


Something To Get High On

by GracieHoltzbertTrash715



Category: The Society (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2020-09-27 06:42:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20403376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GracieHoltzbertTrash715/pseuds/GracieHoltzbertTrash715
Summary: "Harry closed his eyes, hoping that his high could make him forget. Forget his parents, forget his crumbling relationship with Kelly, forget how unsure of the future he was. Forget everything. But most of all, as always....he wanted to forget what he felt for Cassandra and how he believed she hated him when he never truly hated her."





	1. Together On Three

A/N: This is a Hassandra fic based off of an RP my girlfriend and I have been doing since the beginning of July. I took some creative liberties with it, but I definitely give most of Harry's actions credit to my babe. She plays him so well. I’m shook! This is dedicated to her! Anyway...I hope you guys enjoy.

Follow me on Twitter and Tumblr @ KilledByKellers and Instagram @ MadchenMadness

P.S. The beginning of this is slightly different from the show, because instead of Gordie finding Cassandra at the pharmacy looking for her heart meds, it’ll be Harry who sees her. ;)

* * *

The kids of West Ham seemed to roam rampantly through the streets of what they thought was their hometown, searching through grocery stores, hoping to stock up on food and essentials just in case this were in fact an Apocalyptic world they were suddenly living in. Cassandra Pressman, Student Council President and seemingly the only responsible teen around, only had one thing on her mind in that moment. Ignoring the other kids who ran passed her on the streets, she found herself stumbling through the doors of the nearest pharmacy. Her breathing grew heavier and irregular as her body shook through the cold sweat that began to cover her.

Using the counter directly in front of the entrance as a crutch, she made her way to the locked barrier that blocked her from getting to the shelves of prescription pills. She tugged and tugged on the lock as if her life depended on it. Well….It did.

Cassandra was so focused on getting that lock and chain off the barrier doors that she barely heard the chime of the pharmacy door opening.

Harry Bingham, the school’s It-Guy, was so focused on what he himself was doing, that he didn’t even pay attention to the girl that was already present as his eyes stayed fixated on the drugs through the gates. He made his way to the sliding caged doors, immediately attempting to open them as if Cassandra, his long time childhood rival, were just a ghost beside him.

When Cass saw him, she took a step to the side and watched him struggle to open them as well before she finally cleared her throat. Harry looked at her briefly before rolling his eyes, annoyed that of all people, she was the one witnessing this. He pulled at the gate again and it loosened a bit where it connected to the floor.

Cassandra looked down, noticing as well as he had and she stepped back to where she was before, grabbing ahold of the door on her side. “Together on three?” Harry just nodded, refusing to look directly at her. “One, two, three!” Cassandra said and they both pulled.

It began to wiggle a bit more, but it still needed one or two more pulls. Harry looked up and down the barrier doors, studying it to see if they should even try again. When he saw how weak it had become, he spoke. “One more time.” He turned his head to look at the blonde beside him, intending on only looking for a second or two. That plan changed when he noticed her struggling to breathe and he examined her face. “Why are your lips blue?” He didn’t mean to make it sound so rude when it came out...but that happened often when he was waiting for his next high.

Cass ignored him, tightening her grip on the door as best as she could. “One...two...three!”

They both pulled with all their might and the cage doors opened, the metal screeching against the floor as the lock snapped and fell to the ground. Harry went inside immediately, searching through the shelves, ignoring all the bottles of pills he had knocked over. Cassandra stayed where she was, almost out of breath from all the pulling and she leaned against the nearest wall, placing a hand on her chest.

“What are you looking for?” Harry asked, still going through all the drugs.

“J-Just a second.” Cass said, her voice frail and weak.

Harry heard the strain in it and turned to look at her. “Oh, shit. Are you okay?”

Cass put a hand up and weakly nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Just...Just worked myself too hard.” She forced out a chuckle, rubbing her chest as the fabric of her button down shirt opened a bit, revealing the deep, pink scar down the center of her chest. Harry glanced at it for a moment before telling himself it didn’t matter and he looked back at the shelf, picking up bottles and reading the labels before putting them back. “Wh-” Cass began to speak, losing her breath and she gulped, pulling herself together long enough to finish what she was going to say. “What are you looking for?”

“Something to get high on.”

Cassandra couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him before she took a deep breath and finally managed to move away from the wall. She slowly made her way into an aisle of the pharmacy, going by the alphabetical order of medications.

“What are you looking for?” Harry asked with a hint of his usual attitude.

“Don’t-” The girl stopped speaking, losing her breath again as her body shook even more. She took another deep breath in order to speak. “Don’t worry about it.” She used the shelves as a crutch, making her way to the correct aisle as her breathing worsened.

Harry couldn’t seem to find exactly what he needed so he searched several aisles before making it to the one she was in and she was barely standing on her own. Leaning against a shelf, she attempted to catch her breath so she could walk again. “You don’t look so good.” Harry pointed out. “Maybe I should help you loo-”

“I-I’m alright.” Cassandra interrupted him, though she was shocked to hear Harry Bingham offering her his help.

“You really don’t look alright, Cassandra.” Harry said, already annoyed as shit at her constant need to seem perfect to everyone around her.

“I am.” She argued.

“Cass.” He sighed and watched her lean even more against the shelf, her breaths short and shallow. He’d never seen her like this and it was actually beginning to frighten him. “Tell me what you’re looking for….Now.”

She took a couple more deep breaths before speaking, though it almost came out as a whisper. “W-Warfarin.”

Harry nodded and immediately went to the W’s, quickly finding her medicine and bringing it to her, placing the bottle in her shaking hands. Cassandra thanked him as she poured two of the pills into her palm and placed them into her mouth. Harry watched her throw her head back, swallowing the pills without water. He gulped as he watched her, his own heart suddenly pounding, afraid of seeing her like that. His thoughts began to drift off, seeing her in such a state causing his need to get high to worsen and he quickly went back to raiding the shelves for himself.

After a bit, his mind couldn’t take being filled with so many questions anymore and he asked, “What’s Warfarin for?”

“I have a heart defect, okay?” Cassandra didn’t mean to sound so irritated, but she was sure he would go off and tell all of his jock friends, just waiting for them to make a joke out of it. To make a joke out of her….again. Like they always did.

Harry was silent, continuing to look, the tone in her voice only making him feel worse and he looked more frantically. “Come on, come on.” He mumbled to himself as any true addict would.

“What are you trying to run away from, Harry?” Cassandra asked him, finally able to move away from the shelf a little. The medicine took some time to help her improve completely, but she was grateful she was able to stand on her own again.

“Does it fucking matter? I just need to feel numb. Do I need a reason?”

She slightly shook her head with a scoff. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“Fuck off, Cassandra!” He squatted down to look at the shelves near the floor.

“You were given a healthy body and you decide to treat it this way? It’s not fair. It’s insensitive and incredibly selfish.”

“Why is it suddenly my fault that you have a heart condition?”

“No, no. That’s not-” She lost her breath again, slightly gasping for air as she rubbed her chest. “That’s not what I’m saying.” Her voice was weaker.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Just take your meds and leave me alone, Cassandra.” He soon found exactly what he was searching for. “Yes!” He whispered to himself and grabbed as many bottles as he could hold.

Cass gulped, soon feeling strong enough to take a couple steps, heading toward the exit. But soon, she lost her balance and tripped, falling to the floor. Harry heard her fall, looking over to see her on the ground and he waited for her to stand.

She managed to get up on all fours but she couldn’t gather the strength to get up on her feet yet and she just waited, resting back on her knees. When she took too long to stand, Harry looked around, making sure he really was the only there who could help her and he sighed, setting the pill bottles down and going over to stand beside her, though he never looked down at her. He sighed again and offered her his hand.

Cassandra looked at his hand briefly and shook her head no, moving onto all fours again, attempting to push herself up off the floor. “I’m okay.” She said as she stared down at her hands on the floor.

“Just take my fucking hand, Cassandra.”

Closing her eyes, she took his hand and started to stand with his help. Harry grabbed her other hand, pulling her up easier and he held them for a while even after she stood, not wanting to let go until he knew she was strong enough.

Cassandra kept her eyes down as they still held hands. “Are you scared too?”

“Sc-scared of what?” He asked.

“We’re all alone.” She said, referencing the disappearance of their parents. Harry shrugged, finally realizing he was still holding her hands and he let go. “I’m scared. I know everyone thinks I’m not supposed to be...but I am.” Cass admitted.

He shrugged again and went back to pick up all his pill bottles. “We’re all gonna die eventually anyway. So why be scared?”

Cass chuckled a little. “Trust me. I'm not afraid of dying. I think about it all the time. That's not what I'm afraid of.”

Harry made his way back over to her toward the door. “What are you afraid of then? Not being Student Council President anymore? Not having mommy and daddy tuck you in at night?”

She interrupted. “Not dying peacefully….Chaos….Everyone here turning on each other.”

“Hmm...I’m not afraid of chaos.” Harry admitted.

Cassandra looked out the windows of the store, seeing all the kids in a bit of a panic. “I wish I wasn’t.”

He looked at her, letting out a wry chuckle. “Everything always has to be so organised for ‘Your Majesty,’ doesn’t it? He shook his head, looking away. “And you tell me I’m the ridiculous one.”

She sighed heavily. “Whatever, Harry. I try having a nice, civil conversation with you and you always do what you do best.....You ruin it. Just like you ruin everything.”

“Fuck you, Cassandra!” He said, though his voice broke a little while he said it.

“You know, you say that a lot.” She said, her legs feeling a bit stronger and she stood up straighter. “But I never actually believe you when you say it.” She turned around and headed for the door.

“Oh yeah? What about now? Fuck you. Huh? Did you believe that? Fuck….you!”

Cass made it to the door, stopping for a moment as she placed her hand on the handle, looking at the floor and she mumbled. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She immediately hated herself for saying that and she left, slowly heading home.

The moment she said that, Harry’s hands balled into fists and he clenched his jaw. A part of him screaming to chase after her, but he would never let himself do that. Instead, all that tension, all the hurt and anger built up inside of him and he turned, kicking the counter nearby with a yell of frustration and he hated himself even more, opening one of the pill bottles and taking several of them. He closed his eyes, hoping that his high could make him forget. Forget his parents, forget his crumbling relationship with Kelly, forget how unsure of the future he was. Forget everything. But most of all, as always….he wanted to forget what he felt for Cassandra and how he believed she hated him when he never truly hated her.


	2. Why Do You Care?

Cassandra laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep as she couldn’t get that image out of her head. The image of Luke coming into the church, carrying Emily like that. She never really knew Emily well in school. But she remembered seeing her in the halls some days, always smiling and laughing. She hoped she lived a good life, though it was too short. God, was it too short? The image played over and over again in Cassandra’s head on a loop. Her fear of chaos had only worsened now that she knew someone like her cousin, Campbell, owned a gun. And now after a death, she knew things would really be different now. 

She tried not to cry, thinking of how much she needed her parents. They were always there to help her when she needed guidance. She had great ideas most days, but just like any other human teen….her mind would go blank at times and it was her mother who would give her some advice or at least a jump start in the right direction. 

She closed her eyes, attempting to sleep again when she heard that one word in her mind, over and over again. “Tails…...Tails…..Tails.” Why did that freak her out so much? It’s just a 50/50 chance, right? It wasn’t like she rolled some dice and it landed on four every time. There were only two options flipping a coin….Still. It was strange. Especially in this place. 

Boom! Suddenly, she was reminded of the gun shot. A church. Her cousin carried a gun into a church. 

She opened her eyes again, staring at the ceiling and her thoughts were taken back to Harry. It was always him she thought of at night before she slept. Always. This time she wondered why he looked at her like that. “Like what? It was nothing, Cassandra.” She told herself. Though she replayed it over and over again in her head. 

That night, as Allie led Cassandra out of the church, Harry and Kelly had followed. Cass needed a break for a moment so they had stopped walking and Allie let her lean against the church pillar outside. The following pair stepped in front of them and Kelly turned to look at her. “Cassandra, are you alright?” She asked, genuinely concerned.

Harry softly sighed, turning to look at her as well as Cass nodded. “I’m alright. Thank you, Kelly.” She was a bit shocked that Harry’s girlfriend would be concerned about her.

“Are you sure? Maybe Harry and I can give you a ride home.” 

“Uh, no thanks.” Allie said before Cassandra could even respond.

Cassandra looked at her younger sister, internally kicking her for saying no. But she decided not to argue. She looked back at the other two, about to say thank you for the offer but she didn’t say anything as she noticed Harry. He was looking at her blonde hair falling over her shoulder before his eyes wandered down to the grey sweater she wore. Cass bit her lip, keeping her eyes on him as his eyes roamed to the hem of her blue dress peaking out under the sweater. He was about to look down at her legs before he caught himself and looked away. “Come on, Kelly.” He grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and pulled her to his car.

Cassandra couldn’t help but smile to herself in bed later that night, thinking about him looking at her like that and she wondered what things would be like if they never started bickering with each other in the first place. She sighed, closing her eyes again and thinking of him before she finally fell asleep.

The next morning came quicker than she had expected and she made sure to take her meds the moment she ate in the hopes that she wouldn’t have blue lips today. Nor did she want anyone asking her if she was okay again. She preferred it when no one knew she was sick. Though a part of her was glad that Harry knew. Maybe it would mean something better for them. Perhaps he would stop hating her as much as she suspected he did. 

She showered and locked her bedroom door, looking at herself in her body mirror wearing nothing but a towel. She slowly opened it, looking down at her body with a soft sigh before grazing her pointer finger down her scar. She felt a lump in her throat, tears beginning to build up in her eyes and she began to feel gross before quickly closing the towel again and she cleared her throat, getting dressed. She wore high waisted jean shorts with a white t-shirt tucked into them. The t-shirt read “Hello Sunshine” in fancy writing and over it, Cass wore a heavy, wool cardigan, tan in color. She wished she knew how to do her hair or makeup in a fancy way, but she was never one to excel at it. The only two things she didn’t excel at, in fact. 

She applied a thin line of eyeliner to her eyelids and combed through her damp hair, sighing as she left it down….as always. She stared at herself in the mirror once more before looking down at her legs, remembering the way Harry looked away from them and she smiled to herself for a brief moment before it faded and she started to think the opposite of what she’d been thinking. Was he actually looking away because he was disgusted by her and not because he was tempted to look more? The longer she looked at herself, the more she began to overthink.

She shook her head and grabbed her favorite books, Gone With The Wind being one of them, before heading out. 

The sun was shining through the leaves of the tree she sat under in the church courtyard by the gazebo as she read one of her books, her knees up to her chest. Though she wasn’t entirely acquiring much of the information she was reading as her mind was drifting off about other things. The other kids in the courtyard walked passed her, going into the gazebo to smoke or do whatever Cassandra assumed those kids did on their freetime. 

She tried to focus on the sentence she had been reading over and over again as she heard a depressed sigh coming from someone standing in front of her. “Need me to leave?” She knew exactly who it was. 

Harry didn’t say a word as he just moved to sit on the opposite side of the tree, his hair a mess, the dark circles under his eyes darker than usual, indicating he never slept last night. Cassandra attempted to glance over at him every now and then, biting her lip, but trying not to make it obvious. As she tried to carefully look at him again, she noticed he sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. “Headache?” Cass asked him. 

“Mhm.”

“Have you eaten?” She wondered.

“Why do you care?” Harry asked, running a hand through his hair.

“I care about everyone here. Despite what you may think about me.” She spoke, still looking into her book as if she were reading, but at this point, she wondered why she even bothered trying. She looked at her little ziploc bag full of apple slices she’d made that morning and she picked it up, offering it to him. “Here.”

He stared at the bag for a moment before his eyes moved to look at her hand, wondering if when he took it, their hands would touch. “N-No thanks.” He didn’t want to risk it.

“Come on. It’ll help your head...even just a little.” 

He bit his lip, hesitating before carefully taking the bag from her, cautious not to touch her. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She decided to close her book, putting it down in the grass beside her. “When was the last time you ate?”

He shrugged, opening the bag and taking a bite of the first apple slice. “Don’t know.” 

“Harry, you still need to take care of yourself.” Cassandra said, turning a bit on her hip to get a better look at him. He shrugged once more, just looking out at all the other kids in the courtyard. “I wonder what it’s like inside that head of yours...It’s always been a mystery.” Harry just did his best to ignore her. “And I know your secret.”

“And what secret would that be, Cassandra?” He asked with an annoyed tone. 

“That you don’t actually hate me. But don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” Before Harry could say anything, a group of giggling girls, a year younger than them, walked by, flirtatiously waving at Harry and saying hi to him. Harry waved back before running a hand through his hair and he chuckled to himself as the girls left, whispering to each other. Cassandra sighed looking at them. “Must be nice.” 

“What?” Harry asked, eating another slice.

Cass bit her lip before she spoke quietly. “Being wanted. Being attractive.” Harry looked down and started laughing. “Why’s that funny?” 

“It’s not.” He snorted a little, still laughing. 

“Then why are you laughing?” She asked self consciously. It was quiet for a bit and she sighed, turning again to lean her back against the tree once more and she rested her head on it, looking up at the sky through the leaves.

“Just...Sorry.” He said and looked at her, his expression softening as he studied the regal features of her face. The sun hitting her skin just right, giving her a glow that caused his heart to skip a beat and he gulped, forcing himself to look away.

“Harry! There you are! Where the fuck have you been?” Clark asked, stepping over to him with a group of their football friends. "We're planning a big blowout tonight. We need your house to throw this party. After we trashed the church, Helena told Luke we're not allowed in there unless it's to worship our Lord and savior." Clark laughed causing all the others to laugh too.

"She has him so whipped, dude." Jason said with a chuckle.

“You guys have no respect.” Cassandra softly said under her breath, hoping they wouldn’t hear.

"What? Did you say something, ‘Madam President?’" Jason asked.

"Last I checked, we weren't talking to you." Clark pointed out.

Harry slowly stood up with a groan. “Do whatever you want with my house. I don’t care anymore.” He ran a hand through his hair again and started to walk away. 

"Yessss!" The group of guys cheered, giving each other high fives.

Cassandra scoffed, getting on her knees as she began to gather her things on the grass. 

"You have something to say, prude?" Clark asked.

Cass cleared her throat. “No. Nothing. I hope you guys have fun trashing someone else's house.” She rolled her eyes and stood, holding her belongings.

Clark smacked her books out of her hands causing all the guys to laugh and Cassandra bent over to pick them up, but he did it again and they laughed louder. 

“Stop that!” She demanded, bending over to pick them up again and Clark did it a third time. 

As Harry continued to walk away, he heard what was happening behind him and he balled his hands into fists. Soon, he stopped walking and closed his eyes with a sigh before turning around and going back. “Stop.” He said to the guys. 

Cassandra gave Harry an embarrassed look before bending over to pick up her books again, hugging them to her chest this time, keeping her head down. 

"Oh, sorry, bud. You want a crack at it?" Clark stepped aside to let Harry do it.

Harry sadly looked at Cassandra and gulped. “I’m sorry.” He inaudibly mouthed to her before grabbing the top of her books, pulling them out of her hands and throwing them to the side, letting out a fake laugh.

She knelt on the ground, picking everything up and standing once more before quickly walking around them and heading home.

Allie was nearby hanging out with Will when she saw what had happened and she walked passed Harry and the guys, bumping into Clark on purpose. "You really need to grow the fuck up!" She quickly ran after her sister. "Cassandra!"

Harry watched them leave, his heart racing and he started to feel that self hatred again before turning and pushing through the guys, rushing to the nearest liquor store, taking some pills out of his pocket on the way and downing a handful all at once. 

“Hey, dude, where are you going?” Clark asked him, following with Jason. Harry didn’t answer them as he just kept walking. “She’s such a bitch, isn’t she?” 

Jason interjected. “She’s got a nice ass though. Somehow that makes it better.”

“Shut the fuck up. Both of you.” Harry said, walking faster. 

“Why don’t we invite her to the party tonight? We could have some fun with her.” Clark suggested. 

“Yes!” Jason laughed. 

“We could point out all her flaws and make her beg for it, like you said, Harry. It’d knock her right down from her throne.” Clark added.

Harry stopped walking and turned to look at them as he snapped. “Just fucking stop it! Alright? Enough!”

“Jesus, it was just a joke, bro. Calm down.” Jason said.

“You don’t fucking joke about something like that! Jesus Christ!” Harry shouted at them. 

It was quiet for a bit before Clark spoke again. “Dude, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine.” Harry turned and continued to walk toward the liquor store. “Don’t fucking follow me.” He yelled back at them and they surprisingly listened. 

When he made it into the liquor store, he went to the first bottle he saw, opening it immediately and taking a big swig of it, praying to get fucked up as soon as possible. He tossed his head back, drinking more and more before putting the bottle down to breathe. He let out a small burp before wiping his mouth and he looked over at a poster on the wall of the store. It was an ad for a beer with a cute couple on a date under the stars and he began to cry, remembering what he had just done to Cassandra and he chugged more of the drink in his hand, his tears still falling before he dropped the bottle to the floor, letting the glass shatter all around him.


	3. Away

There it was….Chaos. 

The rain poured down on the junior and senior high school students of West Ham as they officially broke the night of Harry’s infamous game of Fugitive. The outrageous storm came upon them, causing house lights to flicker out and the lights of violence in each raging teen to flicker on. All for a couple of flashlights...Chaos. 

Cassandra stood under an awning of the nearest shops to witness the brawl that had broken out at the hardware store that night. Soaking wet, she watched in terror, standing still as her fear refused her any mobility to walk away. Almost as if she were watching a horror film she’d wanted to turn off, but the fear had her too frozen to reach for the remote. This was what she was afraid of. Exactly this. Why wouldn’t anyone listen to her? 

Soon, she remembered Will and Gordie’s presence as they watched with her, Kelly quickly running to them, making her way passed the savage teens on the outside. Not long after she moved to stand behind Will, two more frightened teens rushed over to them, huddled together under the boy’s sweater. It wasn’t till they stood beside Will under the awning and they removed the sweater from their heads did Cassandra see that it was Harry and her sister. Her sister? What was Allie doing with him? 

Cass knew that there were more important things to worry about in that moment so she forced her eyes away from Harry and Allie, turning her focus back to the kids who broke store windows, rushing in to take whatever they wanted and running away in the hopes that they wouldn’t get tackled or punched by another. She could only watch the chaos so long before her thoughts returned to Harry and her sister and she looked over at him again, this time catching his eye as he looked at her guiltily, biting his lip. Her eyes shifted to her little sister who did the same...standing there as if ashamed at what she’d done to betray Cassandra. 

When another store window was smashed, Cass was snapped out of her thoughts about those two and she decided she’d rather watch the chaos ensue than think of what those two may have been doing together. 

Once she was able to think more clearly again, she placed a hand on her forehead. Unable to take being there anymore, she turned, heading away from the others and Gordie turned to leave with her, placing his hand on her lower back. Harry watched him touch her, his hands balling into fists as he clenched his jaw and left, going the other way. Will, Kelly, and Allie stayed right where they were, still watching in shock.

“Come on, I can take you home.” Gordie said sweetly once they were farther away from the center of town. 

“I don’t want to go home.” Cass admitted. “But I’ll see you there later, okay?” 

“Where are you going?” Gordie wondered as Cass took a separate turn away from him.

“Just for a walk.”

Gordie stopped where he was, watching Cassandra get further from him, hugging herself. “But Cassandra, it’s pouring outside.” He called after her.

She barely heard him over the sound of the wind and the rain as she just kept walking alone in the dark, her tears joining the raindrops that fell down her face. 

She had been walking so long, she hadn’t a clue where she was going, just walking and walking, hoping soon she’d be somewhere else….away from all of her dangerous classmates. And away from him. Away from Allie. How could she do that? How could she be with Harry? Out of all the guys around them….she chose him? 

Soon, she looked up and finally realized where she was. Shivering, she rushed over to the church, pulling at the door to go inside to warm up and dry off. It was locked and she sighed, hugging herself more and looking around outside as the rain came down harder. She stayed under the church awning and sunk down to the ground with her back against the church doors, her knees up to her chest. She had felt alone her entire life...but she always knew she had her parents. Here...in this place...with these kids….she knew she was truly, truly alone. Resting her head on her knees, Cassandra cried, letting it all out until she had no tears left. 

Suddenly, she heard a twig nearby snap and she quickly lifted her head with a gasp. “Hello? Who’s there?” She looked around out into the rain, but saw no one, pulling her knees even tighter to herself as she felt her heart beginning to race. “H-Hello?” She felt a rush of anxiety travel through every inch of her body before she was suddenly greeted by a gentle dog and she let out a sigh of relief. 

The mutt was soaked and had a stick in his mouth as he trotted up to her with it, placing it on the ground beside her hip in the hopes that she would throw it for him. She smiled at him, calming down a little. “Hey there.” She said in a sweet little voice. “Where did you come from? Huh? Are you alone?” She pet him, scratching his head and neck. “Me too.” 

“Talking to yourself?” 

Cassandra let out a small yelp as she heard the abrupt voice in front of her. Placing a hand on her heart, she rolled her eyes. “Harry, you fucking scared the shit out of me.” She took in a deep breath and gulped to calm down yet again.

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle. “Who were you talking to?”

“The dog.”

“What dog?” Harry asked with his hands in his pockets.

“The dog. The one right-” She turned her head to see that both the dog and the stick were gone. Her eyebrows furrowed with confusion before she shook it off and looked up at Harry again. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” He said, taking one more step closer.

“I was just going for a walk and got cold.” She chuckled. “You?”

“Was just going for a walk.” He went and sat beside her, playing with a rock that was on the ground next to him. 

“Careful.” Cass said. “Your friends might see you with me.”

“They won’t. They all went back to crash at my place….It’s just me.”

“Oh….I was kidding.” She said in a monotone. Harry continued to play with the rock, beginning to draw something on the concrete with it. “Did you sleep with my sister?” Cass accidentally just blurted out as she watched him. 

“Why does it matter?” He asked as if it were no big deal, still scratching the concrete with the rock. 

“Be-Because I’m her big sister and it’s my job to protect her.” She half-lied. 

“You don’t need to protect her from me. I didn’t even do anything. She came onto me and I wasn’t gonna say no, so…” He shrugged with an attitude.

“Well, what about Kelly?”

“What about Kelly?” He repeated.

“Aren’t you two still together?”

“Mmm nope.” The rock in his hand moved smoothly against the ground while he turned and curved it. 

“Do you like her?” Cass wondered.

“Who? Kelly?”

“No. My sister.” She replied, a bit annoyed. 

“Honestly….No, I don’t.” He admitted.

“But you think she’s hot.” She assumed, suddenly self conscious again.

“No...Not really.” He shook his head.

Cassandra scoffed. “Guys confuse me.” Harry laughed at her statement, still drawing. “ I don't get it. Why have sex with her if you don't like her and you don't think she's hot?”

“Like I said...she came onto me and I wasn’t gonna turn down someone willing to have sex with me.” He moved to another part of the drawing. 

“Are you sad?” 

“Huh?”

“About you and Kelly breaking up.” The blonde clarified.

“Nope.”

“Well, that’s good.” She said before quickly adding to her statement. “That you’re not sad, I mean.” She bit her lip. 

“Mhm.” He said, keeping his focus on the picture he was drawing.

It was quiet for a while and the thunder and lightning had stopped, but it was still raining, though not as hard as before. Cassandra looked around outside, wondering where that dog had gone and she shivered. Without even speaking or looking at her, Harry unzipped his sweater, taking it off and holding it out for her with his free hand while he kept drawing. “Th-Thanks, I already have a jacket.” She pointed out, though the real reason she didn’t want to take his was because she remembered seeing her sister huddling under it with him not even thirty minutes ago. 

“Then have two.” He spoke, still not looking up from the drawing. 

Cassandra bit her lip, staring at the sweater before she slowly took it from him. She internally smiled, having always fantasized about a boy giving her his sweater. And now it was him which made her want to smile even more. When she took it from him, she placed it over her shoulders and smelled it, knowing he wasn’t even paying attention so she could. 

After pulling the sweater even more over herself, snuggling up in it, she looked out at the rain and hummed before she suddenly spoke again. “What happened this afternoon? With Clark and those guys….Why did you do that?”

“Do what?” Harry wondered, not really giving her his undivided attention.

“Knock the books out of my hands.” She reminded him.

“I can’t let them know that I-” He stopped and sighed, finally looking over at her. “Because I am me and you are you.”

Cass squinted her eyes at him a bit. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done, Cassandra. It’s our dynamic.”

“Who's we, Harry? You and I?”

“Mhm.” He nodded, going back to drawing.

“What’s our dynamic?” She asked, still a bit confused.

Harry sighed, really just wanting to finish his picture before looking at her again. “ You’re the perfect girl next door and you get everything you want.” He changed his voice to mock hers. “And I’m the guy who ‘always ruins everything.’” He spoke in a bitter tone, repeating her words from the day at the pharmacy. “It’s always been that way.” He looked at his masterpiece again.

“But what does that have to do with anything?” Cass wondered.

“I need to pull you down to push myself up. That’s how it works. Ever since we were kids.” He found another place in the picture that he needed to fix.

“Why, Harry? Do you even like hurting me like that? Or is it just ‘what you're supposed to do?’” She rolled her eyes.

He sighed, looking at her again. “Look….Cassandra.” He said her name wrong on purpose, knowing it would annoy her. “You’re better off if I’m the one with control over all those guys. They could do worse to you. And believe me, they’ve thought about it. So I have to do dumb shit to keep them on my side so I can stop them from doing even dumber shit.” 

“So...you hurt me...to protect me.” 

“I didn’t say that.” 

“But that’s what you meant.” She bit her lip, trying her best not to smile again. 

Harry also bit his lip, but in order to stop himself from starting an argument. 

Cassandra took in a deep breath, rocking back and forth a little out of habit as her knees stayed propped up against her chest. “Well...at least you have loyal friends.” She pointed out. “Even my own sister hates me.”

Harry sighed, going back to his drawing.

“I’ve spent my entire life, trying to make everyone proud of me. And what did it get me?” She stopped rocking, looking up at the late night stars with a sigh. “A whole town of people who wish I was dead.” 

The boy stopped drawing again, slowly looking over at her. “No one wants that, Cassandra.”

She painfully chuckled. “It sure feels that way.” Harry sighed again before he looked down and mumbled something. “What’d you say?”

“I said that I don’t want you to die, Cass.” 

The girl’s head slowly turned to look at him, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones and she got lost in them. Her heart skipped a beat while Harry’s stomach flooded with butterflies and he quickly looked away, clearing his throat. “Anywayyyy…” He began, though he actually had nothing to say. 

Cass bit her lip and hugged her knees tighter, looking ahead after he said that and she again, fought back a smile. When her mouth disobeyed her, curling into a grin, she stood up and took a few steps forward so he couldn’t see how happy his statement made her. 

Looking out into the rain, she had the sudden urge to stand under it again and she did, stepping out onto the grass and looking up at the sky. Feeling the rain fall down her face, she opened her mouth to catch the raindrops.

“What the hell are you doing?” Harry asked her as he watched.

Cassandra let out a soft hum that made Harry’s butterflies go crazy once again. “It feels so good.”

“Uh...Really?” He asked awkwardly, glad that there was no one around or else this would feel embarrassing to him. 

“Mhm...Come here, Harry.” She smiled to herself, keeping her eyes closed, her head still tilted back.

Harry watched her for a bit, studying her features again and he couldn’t resist. Setting the rock down on the ground, he stood and joined her out in the rain. He kept his eyes on her face, his heart jumping a little and he gulped.

“Doesn’t it feel good?” Cass asked in a small voice with a bright smile.

For the first time in weeks, Harry’s mouth curled into a genuine smile and he answered her. “Yeah. It really does.” He watched Cassandra as she hummed again and caught more raindrops on her tongue. 

His eyes fixated on one particular raindrop on her cheek and he watched it drip down to her neck, a sudden urge taking over him. He bit his bottom lip, wondering what it would be like to grab her, kissing her neck right then and there, but he stopped himself from thinking such thoughts. Looking away, he shook his head and looked down at her hand, almost reaching for it before…

“Bet you can’t catch me!” Cass suddenly said, tagging him and running away. 

“Hey!” Harry softly laughed and began to chase her through the church courtyard. 

She let out a soft squeal as she laughed, running from him and she made it up to the gazebo steps in the center of the courtyard. Grabbing ahold of one of the gazebo pillars, she continued to laugh, out of breath, as she watched Harry catch up to her, grabbing the same pillar while he laughed as well. His white button down shirt was now soaked and completely see-through, Cassandra’s eyes unintentionally roaming his chest under it before she bit her lip, forcing her eyes to look up into his again and she kept softly laughing. 

“Honestly, I've always wanted to play Fugitive with you guys.” She wiped the water off her forehead. “It sounded so fun, but I-I was never allowed to.”

“Why not?” He asked, genuinely upset about that.

She reached down her own shirt to put her hand directly on her scar. “I’m not supposed to run.”

His smile vanished and his eyes widened slightly. “O-Oh shit. That’s right. Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” She chuckled. “I know my limits.” Suddenly, without even thinking, she reached up and brushed some of his wet hair off of his forehead. Harry gulped, freezing at her touch, but he did his best not to move or react to it. Realizing what she was doing, Cassandra quickly pulled her hand away.

Harry cleared his throat. “Well, uh...maybe next time we play...I’ll let you be my partner….No running involved.” He smiled down at her, causing her to nod and smile back.

“I’d like that.” She moved her hand on the pillar, accidentally putting it over his and she let out a breath, quickly moving it back to where it was before.

“A-Are you sure you’re going to be okay here? Without any doctors?” Harry asked her. 

She touched her scar again, gently rubbing it under her shirt. “For now.... I should be.” The brown haired boy sighed a little and looked down at Cassandra’s hand under her shirt before suddenly looking into her eyes again, clearing his throat. A part of him believed he had done something forbidden if he looked at that part of her body. Cassandra noticed how quickly he averted his eyes and she moved her hand so the scar was visible again. “It's okay, Harry. You can look.” He quickly shook his head no. “Give me your hand.” She spoke softly and before he could even answer, she took his right hand with both of hers, forcing it into a fist but leaving out his pointer finger. 

She then slowly guided it to the top of her scar, gently moving it down, down, down, eerily creeping closer to the space between her breasts while she watched his expression. He kept his eyes on hers, refusing to break the eye contact as he let out a breath, feeling the texture of her flawed skin there and he quickly pulled his hand away. 

Harry’s actions caused Cassandra to lose her breath, her hands still in front of her, frozen in the position that Harry had yanked his hand away from. She looked down at her feet, slowly pulling off his sweater and handing it to him before she left the gazebo, heading home as Harry just stared at the sweater in his hands, his eyes beginning to fill with tears, kicking himself yet again.

He had actually gone all night without taking any pills, but he suddenly hit the pillar with the palm of his hand before heading home as well to take some, hoping they would take him far away from his mistakes and far away from the pain he continued to cause her.


	4. Left Behind

“Harry!” Cassandra’s voice was a bit higher than usual as she rushed out of the church after him, attempting to seem fine after the night before in front of everyone leaving around them.

Harry continued to walk as he turned to look at her over his shoulder and he did the same, acting as though everything was as it always had been. “What? Is there something else you wanted?” He usually would’ve sounded even more annoyed, but he didn't have the energy anymore. He kept his right hand in his pants’ pocket, fiddling with the small baggy of pills inside it. Oddly enough, playing with them stopped him from putting them into his mouth. A part of him wanted to have another game of Fugitive as soon as possible now, in the hopes that Cass would be his partner. Though he knew that was one of the most irrational thoughts he’d ever come up with...he hoped for it. So he kept the option open. Trying his best not to take any drugs today if he really wanted to play his favorite game, knowing he shouldn’t drive as fucked up as he’d been getting.

“I want you to join the committee.” Cassandra said as she quickly followed him, a bit frustrated that he wasn’t slowing down for her.

“Yeahhh...No, I’m not gonna do that.” Harry said, going through eighteen reasons in his head why that could turn out bad.

“I want your point of view on things.” Cass tried to convince him.

“Mmm…” He stopped and turned to face her, the presence of all their classmates walking around them bringing out the usual crude version of himself as he responded harshly, hoping it would make her give up quickly. “No. No, you want me where you can fucking see me.” He knew a part of that were true so he said it, knowing she’d have no reason to create an argument with him, which was what he didn’t want. Not today. Not anymore, really. He was so sick of fighting with her.

He just wanted it all to stop like it was supposed to. After high school….She’d go off to some fancy Ivy League school and he’d probably get accepted into something great but make some decision to stay close to home in some community college. Either way...they were never going to see each other again and he was finally going to get over her. He was going to finally be done with staying up at night, thinking about her and longing to be friendly with her. Needing to be more than friendly with her. But it was that school. That stupid fucking school and its politics. The popular guy could never date the smart and focused girl. He had to hate her. He was supposed to roll his eyes at her in the hall and treat her like any other perfect girl like her ought to be treated.

He wasn’t supposed to sneak off in the middle of lunch to hold hands with her in sixth grade….but he did. And they were caught. Right in the worst moment. Right when she had kissed little twelve year old Harry on the cheek. He still remembered the laughs coming from his friends as they had seen what little Cassandra had done. At first, young Harry felt like a rock star back then, but he noticed the way they treated Cassandra after that day. Any time she raised her hand in class and was called on by a teacher, the class erupted in imitated kissy noises as they gawked at her and laughed. Whenever she headed to her next class, in the hall, girls who used to be her friends were now jealous that she got to kiss Harry Bingham and hold his hand, so they all called her names and told her she was ugly.

Was Harry treated the same? No...Of course not. He was the boy who got kissed by a girl. To his classmates, he was a hero. And everyone acted as though he’d won some big trophy, being a little ladies’ man who all the boys wanted to be friends with. They asked his advice on how to get girls and praised him in the same halls that Cassandra was purposefully tripped in...not just four lockers down from his.

He noticed. He watched. And he saw how in pain she was after being associated with him. He blamed himself for the way she was hurt back then and how he did nothing but rise up socially as she was knocked down. Ever since then….ever since Cassandra kissed Harry’s cheek in sixth grade, Harry had spent their entire middle and high school careers, trying to keep her away from him so he couldn’t pull her down again like he did then.

So on their Earth, Harry was excited to graduate and never see her again. Only so he could forget the way his twelve year old self had forgotten about how much he liked her back then and he could finally move on with his life.

“I’ll follow your rules.” Harry told her, that history in the back of his mind every time he looked at her. “That’s all you get.” He looked at her with a hint of sadness for just a second before he turned and started to leave her behind.

She watched him go for a bit, the events from the previous night flashing in her mind, and she lost her breath before she began to follow him. “H-Harry, wait.” She rushed to catch up to him again, a little winded from having to walk so fast. He could hear her becoming out of breath behind him and stopped walking so she wouldn’t pass out. She caught up and stepped around in front of him as if that could block him from continuing his journey home. “I really do.”

“Do what?” He asked, seeming uninterested in speaking with her.

“Want to hear your opinions.” She clarified.

“Since when?” He painfully chuckled, though he knew he didn’t even deserve that from her considering all he’s put her through.

The small hint of a smile that she held faded as she really studied his face. “Are you okay?”

Harry replied with yet another attitude. “Uh, yeah? Why?”

“Have you been eating? You almost look as bad as I do when I haven’t had my meds.” She tried to joke about it.

Harry just shrugged and attempted to walk around her again. Cassandra looked around, seeing that no one really paid much attention to them and she grabbed his hand, pulling him toward a path behind the church that led them to the center of town near all the shops.

She brought him to a diner, leading him inside as she ignored how tense he seemed while she touched him. After closing the diner door behind them, she led Harry to the nearest table, pulling out a chair. “Sit.” She demanded. “I’m going to make you something to eat.”

He looked at her, raising an eyebrow and she looked back at him, crossing her arms over her chest and clearing her throat as if she were impatiently waiting for him to obey her. He sighed, shaking his head with annoyance before he just sat down, still lacking the energy to fight with her. Cass smiled immediately when he listened to her and turned, heading back into the kitchen. Not long after, she returned to him with a pitcher filled to the brim with water and two glasses, setting them down on the table in front of Harry.

“Drink.” The blonde demanded again, waiting and watching him until he would do so.

Harry was just staring up at her, actually finding her extreme bossiness refreshing and it reminded him of her back in sixth grade. It was even more refreshing to him when he remembered they were the only two there so he could enjoy her need to be so in charge rather than having to think of some way to snap at her in front of others. He listened to her again, pouring himself a glass of the water and taking a big gulp of it from his cup.

A bit shocked that he was so receptive of her “suggestions,” Cassandra straightened her posture with confidence and went back into the kitchen. She left the door open so she could speak to him. “So….You never answered me.” She said while filling a big silver pot with water.

“You never answered me.” Harry replied.

“I didn’t?”

He let out a wry chuckle. “No. I asked you since when did you care about my opinions…..on anything, really?”

“Since always, Harry. Despite what you may think.” Cass answered truthfully.

He shook his head though she wasn’t looking at him. “Impossible.” He spoke with a hint of pain in his tone.

“It’s really not, Harry. You started ignoring me first. Remember?” She asked, setting the pot on the big stove in the back and turning on the burner. Harry shook his head with a scoff, slouching down in the chair with nothing to snap back with. A moment or so later, Cassandra left the kitchen and returned to the dining area to sit across from Harry at the same table. “The water is boiling for the pasta.”

Harry just slowly nodded, turning his head to look out the window, his eyes filled with so many emotions at once. Cassandra looked down at the floor with a sad sigh when he refused to look at her.

Soon, the silence was broken with Harry’s voice as he muttered the word, “Thanks.”

“Hm?” Cass looked back at him, her eyes suddenly fixating on his disheveled hair, wanting to reach over and run her fingers through it.

“I said thanks.” Harry repeated.

“What for, Harry?” She couldn’t help but keep saying his name...something that actually happened a lot in her house back home. It certainly got on Allie’s nerves the most, while her parents found it intriguing that the person she spoke about the most after school was always him and no one else.

“For caring.” His eyes finally looked back over at hers.

Her expression softened even more and she felt her heart break a little for him as he said that. “Of course, Harry….And hey, you helped me find my medicine when I was nearly dead. So it’s only fair, right?” She chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Not really.” He spoke in such a melancholy tone, it could’ve made Elmo sad.

Cassandra’s smile instantly vanished when he said that. “Well, to me, it is.”

Harry nodded before unintentionally looking her up and down in her navy blue strapless dress, her shoulders covered by the jean jacket she wore. He cleared his throat and looked away from her, returning his gaze back to mindlessly staring out the window, stopping himself from looking at her at all if he could.

The seventeen year old girl looked down at her outfit when he looked away. Growing self conscious, she bit her bottom lip before pulling the dress up higher to completely cover up her scar. “I’m sorry I made you do that.” She said in a small voice.

“Do what?” He asked, again, seeming uninterested in her.

“T-...Touch it.” She closed her eyes, attempting not to cry. “Touch me.” She corrected herself.

Harry closed his eyes and sighed. “Don’t say that.”

“Say what?”

He gulped a little before looking at her. “I didn’t mind….touching you.”

“But it grossed you out. I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” She spoke frantically.

“No...No. Cass.” He let out a sad breath. “It didn’t gross me out.” He shook his head as he spoke.

“No? Then why did you pull your hand aw-”

He suddenly interrupted her. “I think we should check to see if the water is boiling.” He was about to stand up when Cass stopped him.

“No, no. Sit. I’ve got it.” Before Harry even had a chance to protest, Cassandra had already stood up and gone back into the kitchen.

* * *

**A/N: Hey, guys Sorry I took a couple days to update. I had to babysit the last few days so I never really got around to writing. But here you go. I hope you liked this one. The next one might be up pretty soon. Love you guys! MWAH!**

**LEAVE COMMENTS AND REVIEWS BELOW!!!**


	5. Especially For You

After a minute or two, she called for him. “H-Harry? Can you come here please?” She asked from inside the kitchen. He sighed and stood up, going in to see her on her tiptoes with one hand stretched up as high as she could get it. “I can’t reach.” She looked up at another silver pot that was up high on the shelf over the stove. She groaned a little. “But I’m so...close.” She bit her lip and whimpered a little before letting her arm down and standing on her flat feet again, letting out a loud breathy sigh. 

Harry’s eyes roamed her body as she did that, studying the way her curves perfectly fit each section of her body. Some of the noises she made caused him to leave the planet for a moment before he snapped back into it and cleared his throat. He stepped over beside her, reaching up just a bit higher than her and he grabbed the pot she wanted, pulling it down and handing it to her. “Here.” He unintentionally cleared his throat a second time. 

“Thanks.” She looked at him, biting her lip before suddenly, the pot of water on the stove began to boil over, the water spilling out all sides. Cassandra gasped, reaching over to frantically turn down the temperature on the stove, the bubbles calming down as the pasta continued to soften every second. Harry grabbed a nearby cloth and wiped the stove where the water had spilled out. “Careful.” Cassandra told him, watching his hand closely, making sure he wouldn’t burn himself. 

“I got it.” He said to reassure her.

She bit her lip again and cleared her throat before setting the new pot in her hands down on a different burner on the stove, turning it on. She grabbed the can of sauce that she had already opened and poured it into the pot along with a few spices she had out and ready. She used a giant wooden spoon to mix it all together, the heat from the burning stove causing the sauce to bubble as well. Some of it popped, hitting Cassandra in the arm and she squealed a little at the heat against her skin, grabbing the lid and quickly placing it on top of the pot. She looked down at the sauce on her arm and her cheeks began to turn red, embarrassed at her sudden clumsiness. 

“Here.” Harry stepped closer to her, taking her arm in his hand and using the wet cloth to clean her arm. He kept his eyes on the cloth and her arm though he could feel her eyes on him as he did that. Cassandra’s eyes softened as he helped her, her nerves all over the place once again. 

Soon, the blonde cleared her throat and stepped back. “Thanks again….Sorry, I’m usually not this much of a mess in the kitchen. I must be distracted or something.” 

“It’s fine. I can’t do anything in the kitchen, so you’ve already got me beat.” He softly chuckled. She giggled a little and put her hand over her scar, rubbing it a little. “You okay?” Harry asked her. 

“Hm?” She said, barely hearing him over her own thoughts and she looked at him. “Oh...Yeah. I’m good.”

“Are you sure?” She nodded, taking in a deep breath which suddenly made her feel light headed and she gulped. Trying her best to breathe regularly, she felt herself falling into his arms as she almost passed out. “Cass!” Harry said as he caught her on time. “You’re obviously not fine. What should I do?”

Cass squeezed his biceps as she held him back to keep her balance. “No, really. I’m alright. I just...I don’t remember if I took my medicine this morning.”

“Cassandra…” He sighed. “What happened to ‘you still have to take care of yourself, Harry?’” He mocked her. “The same goes for you. Especially for you.”

“I know. I know...I just forgot. I was so focused on getting everything ready for the speech this morning, I must’ve just stressed myself out.” She admitted.

“No...Cassandra Pressman? Stressed? That would never happen. You’re Superwoman.” He mocked again, bringing her over to the counter so she could lean on it. “Do you have your meds with you?” Cassandra shook her head no. “You should start carrying them.” He suddenly lifted her up, making her sit on the counter.

She gulped as he did that, still holding his shoulders even after she was sitting. “I guess I should.” She said quietly.

“Will you be alright until you’re home?” He wondered. “It’s scary seeing you like this.”

“I-I’m sorry.” She finally found her words, steadying her breathing. “I’m sorry.” She repeated.

“Why are you sorry?” 

“You probably don’t want to be taking care of me right now.” She sadly chuckled.

“Why do you think that?” He wondered. Cassandra gave him an annoyed look as if he should obviously know why she would think that about him. He never seemed to care about her or her well-being. Why on earth would he be helping her? Harry chuckled. “Okay, okay. I get it.” He playfully rolled his eyes. “But I really don’t mind taking care of you, Cassandra. You’re busy taking care of everyone else here. Someone else needs to take care of you, if you won’t.” 

Cassandra’s heart skipped a beat as he said that, and it wasn’t because she was lacking her meds. He was the first one, besides her parents, who ever wanted her to get better for herself. The first one not to tell her she needs to get better for everyone else. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized that wasn’t even true about her parents. There were times when even they told her she needed to get better for Allie or because they couldn’t live without her. Harry Bingham?? The first person to ever want her to be better just because it was what she needed and not what everyone else did? 

She got lost in his eyes as hers softened just before Harry reached up, brushing her bangs off her forehead for a reason even he couldn’t fathom. Cassandra held completely still save for her eyes looking up at his hand and she softly gulped. She quickly looked back into his eyes, causing him to lose his breath and Cassandra looked down at Harry’s lips. 

Suddenly, Harry cleared his throat and stepped away from her, going to look at the pasta. “So...How long until it’s ready?” 

Cassandra felt a knot in her stomach when he walked away from her and she ignored the tears that wanted to fall, forcing them to stay put as she answered. “U-Um...usually about seven minutes. So give it about two more, I think.”

Harry softly nodded, mindlessly picking up the wooden spoon and stirring the pasta a little. Cass put her hand on her chest again, rubbing it a bit as she looked at him. Harry could see her touching her scar in the corner of his eye. “What’s wrong?” He asked, never looking up at her beside him. 

“Nothing.” She said, her tears still threatening to fall.

“Cassandra.” He said her name softer than he had intended and looked up at her just as a tear left her eye.

“I think I just….just miss my parents or something.” She half-lied, quickly wiping her tear away and looking down at her hands in her lap. 

Harry moved to the side a little, standing directly in front of her once more and he reached up, brushing her hair behind her ear as gently as possible. Feeling massive butterflies erupt in her stomach, Cassandra didn’t dare to look up into his eyes again, not wanting to get lost once more and she moved her gaze over to see Harry’s free hand on the counter so close to her hip and she longed for him to touch her again. Her pointer finger began to slowly move up and down his forearm, causing Harry to tense up a little as he looked down at her finger, watching her do so. Goosebumps formed all over his body and he gulped, just watching her do her thing. 

When Harry didn’t pull away at her touch, Cass gently rested her hand over his, hoping he would hold it. Several seconds passed and Harry hadn’t dared to move, just wondering what else she would do, but when he didn’t take her hand back, Cassandra felt a pain in her chest and she let go of him, sitting up straighter as if to pull away from their closeness.

“I-I think the pasta is done now.” She said, breaking the silence. Harry sighed and nodded stepping away from her again. Cass put her hands down on the counter by her hips and carefully got down off of it. “Do you know how to check if it’s done?” She asked him.

“No.” He replied quickly.

“It’s funny. But it’s how you really know.” She took the spoon and pulled out a strand of the spaghetti, carefully picking it up with her fingers. “Ready?” 

“Sure.”

She smiled, already chuckling a little and she threw the noodle at the cabinet above the stove and it stuck to the wood. “Yupp. It’s done.”

“That’s how you check?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Mhm. If it doesn’t stick, then it’s not done yet.” She reached up, pulling it down from the cabinet. “Want it?” She asked him, holding it in the air. Harry opened his mouth as Cass fed it to him and she giggled a little, the sound causing the boy’s heart to jump. 

Cass bit her lip, watching him eat it and she caught herself staring, wondering what it would be like to kiss him. She soon snapped out of it and took the pot of spaghetti to the sink, dumping it out into the strainer, ridding the pasta of the excess water, completely unaware of how Harry watched her every move. He studied her as she got two plates for them, scooping spaghetti onto them and then adding the sauce to each plate, receiving two forks as well. 

“Here you go.” She handed Harry both plates, still clueless about the way he watched her as if mesmerized by her existence. “I’ll be out in a second.” She told him.

“Are you sure you don’t need my help, Cassandra?” He wondered, her voice snapping him out of his daze.

“Yes, I promise.” She sweetly smiled at him.

He nodded a little and took his plate, heading for the door to the dining area, though he stopped to look back at her briefly before going back out to their table, setting her plate down across from where he sat. 

Not long after, Cassandra rejoined him, holding a bottle of wine and two glasses and she sat in her chair. “Technically, I'm not supposed to drink this because of my medicine. But who cares anymore? Right?” She asked while pouring both their glasses.

“I-” He was about to tell her that he did but he cleared his throat. “Right.” 

The girl chuckled, lifting her glass. “To…?”

“Uh...Fugitive?” Harry said with a small laugh, expecting her to tell him that was stupid. 

“To Fugitive.” She laughed as well, shocking him when she said it. Harry smiled, clinking his glass with hers and they both took a sip. Cassandra closed her eyes and let out a long hum. “Hmmm, that’s so good.” 

Harry’s breathing hitched at the sound she made and he cleared his throat before taking another sip. Soon, that one small sip became one big gulp and it didn’t take long before the glass was empty and he pinched the bridge of his nose, whispering to himself. “Fuck.” 

“How old were you when you had your first drink?” Cass asked him with curiosity. She began to twirl some spaghetti onto her fork as she waited for an answer.

“Uh. I don’t wanna say.” He responded.

“Come on. It’s just the two of us here.” She said before taking her first bite of the spaghetti.

He shook his head. “It’s embarrassing.” 

Cass took another sip of her wine. “Just tell me. I promise. I won’t even react.” Harry quietly mumbled something that she couldn’t hear. “What?”

“Nothing. Let’s just eat.” 

The blonde nodded and decided not to upset him, because this was the longest he had ever gone without insulting her and she intended on keeping it that way.


	6. Familiar

They continued to eat and drink their wine in silence before Cass finally spoke again. “Oh yeah. Guess what.”

“What?”

“Kelly thinks we should have a prom.”

“A prom?” Harry internally laughed at the idea. “For…?”

“Normalcy….Everyone’s sanity...A distraction. Take your pick.” She took her last sip of wine.

“Oh.” He thought about it for a moment. “That sounds kind of dumb...but it makes sense.”

She nodded and had her last few bites of spaghetti until her plate was empty. “We should head back. Everyone will probably wonder where we are.”

Harry shrugged. “Let them wonder. Why is it any of their business?”

Cass tried not to show too much of her smile. “I guess it’s not.” She picked up the wine bottle, pouring herself another glass and then moving it to pour him one, but he stopped her.

“I really shouldn’t.” He held the bottle so she wouldn’t pour more.

She smiled brightly, proud of him for doing that and she set the bottle down before pushing her own glass away from her. She grinned and looked around the diner, her eyes fixating on the jukebox over in the corner. “Think it still works?”

He followed her gaze, looking at the machine as well. “Only one way to find out.” He stood, going over to the jukebox and taking a quarter out of his jeans’ pocket. He placed it into the coin slot and looked through the music, not really seeing anything he liked so he pressed a random button.

Soon, a soft melody began to play throughout the diner and Cassandra perked up a little. “This song is so beautiful.” She looked around as if she could see the music notes passing by. “Have you heard it?”

Harry shook his head no.

Cass smiled to herself, beginning to hum along to it, soon, singing the lyrics softly with her eyes closed.

_“We took a walk to the summit at night, you and I. _

_To burn a hole in the old grip of the familiar. True to life. _

_And the dark was opening wide. Do or die. _

_Under a mask of vermillion ruling eyes.”_

The instrumentals began and she opened her eyes, stunned to see Harry standing right in front of her, looking down at her with soft eyes. She looked up into his, her heart pounding as he put his hand out, offering it to her.

The blonde’s heart began to race as she gulped, taking his hand and standing. Harry bit his lip, leading her over to a more open part of the diner where they’d have room to dance. He turned to face her, pulling her close. He held both of her hands, beginning to sway with her. “Keep singing.” He said softly just as the chorus was coming up.

Cass slowly nodded, licking her lips and looking at his hands holding hers as she softly sang more.

_“And our love is a ghost that the others can’t see. It’s a danger. _

_Every shade of us. You fade down to keep them in the dark on who we are. _

_Oh what you do to me. Gonna be the death of me. _

_It’s a danger. _

_'Cause our love is a ghost that the others can’t see.”_

Her voice faded away toward the end of the chorus as she began to feel those lyrics relate to her and Harry.

The instrumentals started again and Harry softly pulled her closer, guiding her hands up to wrap around his neck. His own hands slowly moved down to hold her lower back.

“H-Harry.” She said his name, almost in a whisper as she felt him holding her like that.

He quickly let go of her, stepping away and awkwardly scratching his head. “I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to cross any lines.” He cleared his throat. “I-I only seem to have dumb ideas.” He uncomfortably chuckled.

“N-No. No...That’s not it. It wasn’t dumb at all. I just, um…” She bit her lip. “I started thinking of, um-”

“What?” He asked nervously, needing her to hurry up and say something.

“Um….the...p-prom.” She admitted, immediately regretting it when he took a step back.

“O-Oh.” Harry’s head dropped and he bit his lip, looking around the diner before going over to their table, grabbing their dishes and he went back into the kitchen, beginning to wash them as if he were suddenly a robot.

Cassandra kicked herself for saying that out loud. She should’ve known he’d never go to prom with her. No matter what Earth they were on. He’d never be seen with her like that. This was all she got. And this was all she was ever going to get.

She went over to the jukebox, unplugging it and sitting down again with a sigh.

After a couple minutes, she gained the courage to stand up and go back into the kitchen, leaning against the door and watching him for a bit before she spoke. “Why did you pull away?”

“Hm?”

“Last night...when you felt my scar. Why did you pull away?” She asked again.

Harry shrugged. “No reason.”

“It’s okay. You can tell me the truth. I already know that it freaks people out and they think it’s gross. That’s why I don’t tell everyone about it. I don’t want you to tell anyone either, okay?”

“I won’t.” He said as if it were no big deal.

Cassandra looked down at her feet and her phone started to ring. She took it out of her pocket, looking at the screen and letting out a breath. “Just an alarm.” She unintentionally said aloud before turning it off.

“For your meds?” He assumed.

“Well...not that kind.” She looked away awkwardly.

“O-Oh.” He knew she meant birth control right away.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m not gonna take it anymore.”

“Why not?” Harry wondered, though a part of him really didn’t want to know.

“It’s not like I have a use for it. I barely had one back home.” Cass shrugged. “It's alright. I really only went on them for one guy and he's back in the real world. And there's no one here interested in me like that.” She watched him as he continued to wash the dishes without a word. “Sex is overrated anyway. It’s honestly not even that fun.”

“Of course Cassandra Pressman would say that.” Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean that you can only enjoy sex if you let yourself go and loosen up. And you and I both know you could never do that.” He let out a wry chuckle. “You always have to have everything organised, scheduled and controlled. But that’s not how sex works.”

“That’s-That’s not true.” She said, rubbing her scar again as she felt tears building up in her eyes.

Harry scoffed. “Oh, yes, it is.”

Cass unintentionally snapped, raising her voice. “You don’t know anything, alright?” She kept rubbing her chest. “I didn't enjoy it, because the two times we had sex, he made me keep my shirt on to hide my scar. He said he couldn't stay hard looking at it and both times lasted about thirty seconds. But I guess it's still my fault that I didn't enjoy it, huh?”

Harry gulped, kicking himself for never keeping his mouth shut and he turned off the sink. He dried his hands and went over to her, pretending to be unbothered by everything she said and he moved his face closer to hers. “Then I guess you just need someone to show you how it’s actually done.” He moved closer and closer, their noses almost touching before he reached behind her, opening the door and leaving the kitchen.

Cassandra’s breathing hitched and she gulped when he left, shaking her head before following him out into the dining area. She was about to say something to him before she looked out the restaurant window. “Oh, shit. They found us.”

“Who?” Harry asked, looking out the window as well and they could see Clark, Jason, and their football friends approaching the diner. “Come on.” Harry grabbed Cassandra’s hand and pulled her back into the kitchen. “Shhhhh!”

They heard the front door to the diner open, followed by Jason’s voice. “We saw you.”

Harry looked at Cass. “There’s a back door right there.” He whispered, making sure only she could hear him before pointing to the very back of the kitchen. “Go. And hurry. But don’t run if it’s not good for you.” He let go of her hand. “I’ll handle these assholes.”

Cass looked at him for a moment before kissing his cheek and she rushed to the back door, stopping just outside the alley. With a hand on her chest, she noticed that feeling of deja vu. The sneaking away holding his hand. Kissing his cheek. She couldn’t help but smile to herself thinking of sixth grade and remembering how familiar that feeling was.

Inside, Harry felt the same way, but brushed it off in time to go out into the dining area where all the other guys were. “Saw who?” He said once he was out there.

"There you are." Jason said with a smile.

"Was that Cassandra you were just with?" Clark asked, an even bigger smile growing on his face.

"Why would you be with her?" Jason wondered.

"And all alone?" Clark added ."You didn't happen to be fucking her, were you? ‘Cause dude, that's just fucked up."

“No.” Harry faked a disgusted look. “That was Kelly.”

"Hm? Really?” Jason asked. “Because we just saw Kelly and she said she didn't know where you or Cassandra were."

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. “Alright, fine. It was Cassandra. But it’s obviously not what you idiots think. I was here to be alone and she found me and wouldn’t leave. You know her. Always running her mouth.”

"Yeah? Did you give her what you said at the party the other night?" Clark asked, imitating that he was getting a blow job, the other guys laughing.

"Yeah, yeah." Another guy jumped in. "Did she choke like you hoped she would?"

"Too bad she got up and is still breathing, huh bud?" Clark laughed more.

Suddenly, they all heard a broken breath and the kitchen door slammed shut. They all turned to see Cassandra through the glass on the kitchen door, running toward the back door again.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it’s been a couple days. I was super tired on Saturday and then last night I had a migraine so I couldn’t write. But that’s why today, you guys get two chapters!!!! WooHoo! Lol Anyway….Check out the song I had them hear on the jukebox in this chapter. It’s called “Familiar” by Agnes Obel. No copyright intended. It just really fits them. I DO NOT OWN THE SONG NOR AM I TAKING CREDIT FOR IT! But yeah, check it out on YouTube.**

**LEAVE COMMENTS AND REVIEWS!!!!!**


	7. Two Shots In The Dark

“Think Alden and Celeste are happily married or unhappily married?” Campbell said loud enough for Harry to hear him over the music. 

Harry softly chuckled, looking down at his own feet under the table he sat at, moping during the entirety of the prom. “What’s it matter to you?” 

Campbell friendly patted Harry’s leg for the second time that night, causing Harry’s body to slightly tense up and he tried his best not to snap at someone here with a gun. “Just making conversation.” Campbell smiled. 

Harry’s eyes and thoughts were elsewhere, every now and then looking over at Kelly dancing with Will or Cassandra dancing with Gordie. He did his best to keep his eyes low as he looked at Cassandra, making sure no one would notice him looking at her and as he continued to mope, Campbell looked over at Elle, making friends on the dance floor and he couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear. He turned to look at Harry, wondering if he was having just as good a time as he was, but he noticed that look of teen despair on poor Harry’s face. Following his gaze, Campbell looked over, surprised to see Kelly dancing with another guy, almost as if completely forgetting Harry existed.

Campbell’s smile disappeared and he looked back at Harry just as the depressed boy took another big gulp of alcohol. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Campbell reached into the pocket on the inside of his suit jacket, placing something small in between the name card from the table and he set it down on the table in front of Harry.

“What is this?” Harry asked him, refusing to look at the other boy. 

“It’ll numb the pain.” Campbell gestured to his own heart, indicating he meant emotional pain as Harry glared at him briefly. 

Harry slowly opened the name card, seeing the pretty large pill that Campbell had put inside it and he took it out.

“Let’s go take a photo.” Cassandra said as she pulled Kelly toward the photo booth.

“What?” Kelly said, being dragged over.

“Yeah, like stupid astronaut stuff that we’ll-” Cass stopped pulling Kelly as her eyes fell over to Harry’s table, seeing him and Campbell there. She looked at Kelly. “I’ll meet you over at the booth, okay?” Kelly nodded and headed over the rest of the way on her own, putting on that silly astronaut helmet. Cassandra went over to stand between Campbell and Harry’s chairs, crossing her arms in front of her chest just as Harry lifted the name card, revealing the pill. “What’s going on here, boys?” She asked them. 

Campbell took a sip of the random cup that was in front of him, no matter whose it was, and he stood. He looked at his cousin while clearing his throat and he left, going over to Elle without a word to Cassandra. 

“Harry, what did he just give you?” The blonde girl asked Harry, still standing there. 

“Why do you care?” Harry wondered, placing the pill inside his own pocket. 

She put her hand out. “Just give it to me.” She demanded.

“Uh...No.” Harry said as he stood.

“Yes, Harry.” She said in a more stern voice. “Give it to me now.”

Harry turned to face her, his nose only centimeters from hers. “You don’t get to boss me around, Cassandra. Not in front of all these people.” He spoke in a low, hushed tone.

“H-Harry, I’m not bossing you around. I’m-” She looked around, making sure no one was close enough to hear and she spoke in almost a whisper. “I’m trying to help you.”

“Why? So you can fix me?” He replied in the same tone. “I don’t need fixing, Casssandra. I’m fine just the way I am.” He picked up his glass from the table, downing it before wiping his mouth and turning to walk away from her. 

“Fine, but you’re staying after to help me clean.” She called after him.

“Yeah, whatever.” He called back and headed toward the bathroom. 

The prom lasted about another hour or two after and Harry became more trashed than ever, both alcohol and drugs contributing. He witnessed Gordie kissing Cassandra during a slow dance and he finally began to feel his head spinning before he sat down at another table for the rest of the night until the place was empty save for Cassandra and himself.

Harry had been so out of it, he hadn’t even noticed the prom had ended. Cass walked over to him, looking at him fast asleep in his chair at the table and she shook his shoulder. “Harry, wake up.” As she shook him and said his name, he woke, gasping a little and looking around. “Time to clean.” The girl said, beginning to pick up the paper plates around the table.

“Who’s here?” Harry mumbled, blinking his eyes several times, trying to get them to refocus, but they never did. 

“Just you and me.” She said, still going around, cleaning. 

“‘You and I.’” He mocked in one of her voices that he did with his friends. He groaned and eventually found the ability to stand, wobbling a little immediately. Cassandra just rolled her eyes at his remark and continued to clean up, walking around with a garbage bag, filling it with plastic forks along with paper plates that still had cake frosting all over them. Harry continued to groan as he walked around, unsure of what to do. He looked over at her. “The fuck am I supposed to do?” He asked her, shaking his head a little, trying to get rid of the blur in his vision. 

“Uh, since it seems so difficult for you, why don’t you just handle throwing away the empty cups?” She said with an attitude.

“And what do I do with the full ones?” He asked with an even worse attitude.

“I don’t know. Dump them down the bathroom sink or something.” She finished clearing the last table of the plates and forks before moving onto taking down balloons and streamers.

Harry watched her with an annoyed glare before he picked up a cup, looking into it and seeing that it still had some whiskey in it and he looked over toward the bathroom door, seeing how far it was and then he looked back at all the tables, seeing how many cups were still left and he shrugged before downing the rest of that cup then throwing it in the garbage bag Cassandra had left with him. He continued to do the same with every full cup he came across, just drinking the rest instead of walking over to the bathroom to empty them responsibly. 

Cassandra looked over at him, seeing him do so and she disappointedly tilted her head to the side. “Really, Harry?” 

“What?” He said, looking back at her. “I’m helping, aren’t I?” 

The blonde sighed before continuing what she was doing, filling a garbage bag with the streamers and decorations until nothing else would fit in it and she tied it. Heading toward the door, Cassandra stopped at the wall closest to it, letting out a groan, looking down at her swollen feet in her high heels. “I’m taking the trash out. Will you please start to get all the table cloths folded while I’m gone?” She said, looking at Harry, who stopped where he was, sitting down to rest again.

“Mhm.” He said without even moving. 

Cassandra rolled her eyes again and she lifted her right leg, pulling off that heel before lifting her left leg. About to pull off that shoe as well, she put her hand up on the wall beside her to keep her balance and she accidentally hit the light switches, a slide show for little Bobby’s bar mitzvah playing up on the projector. She looked up at it, smiling to herself and taking a couple steps forward to watch. Harry watched too though he said nothing nor even reacted. After a few more clips of Bobby’s childhood had passed by on the screen, memories of Cassandra’s childhood and life with her parents begun to play in the back of her own mind and she sadly looked down at the floor for a moment. After getting ahold of herself, she looked at the back of Harry’s head, about to tell him once more that she was taking the trash out before she realized that he probably didn’t even care and she just left. 

Harry continued to watch the screen for a couple minutes, his mind racing as he replayed the events from that day at the diner with Cassandra over and over again in his head. He thought of the dance with her, telling himself that that should’ve been them tonight. He looked around the ballroom, realizing...there was no one there. This could be his chance to fix it. To make it right. They were still technically at the prom. They were just the last two to leave. 

He grabbed the back of his chair, trying to stand without wobbling as he thought of what he might say to her to convince her to give him another chance. To dance with him again and hopefully this time….to kiss him...properly on the lips. Not Gordie. 

Suddenly, he heard a loud bang, just as he regained his balance. With a sigh, he mumbled to himself. “Jesus, Cassandra. You don’t need to slam the dumpster shut. I’m cleaning. I’m clea-” Suddenly, a second bang. Harry straightened his posture, realizing that that was not the sound of the dumpster. “C-Cass?” He thought a second more, realizing it sounded just like the shot of a gun and his eyes widened. “Cass!” He shouted and ran toward the door, stumbling over a chair on the way out. 

He soon made his way outside and saw Cassandra’s limp body, shaking on the ground. “No! No, no, no, no, no, no!” He ran to sit beside her, lifting her up as best as he could, holding her in his lap and turning her over so she could look up at him. He looked around to find help or whoever the shooter was. All he saw was darkness. “Help! Someone get some fucking help!” He screamed, tears running down his cheeks that he barely felt, his entire body numb to anything at the moment. 

He looked down into Cassandra’s eyes as she continued to shake in his arms. She struggled to say something to him, fighting to keep breathing. “H-Ha-” She wanted to say his name, trying to force it out.

Harry cupped her face, crying even more. “Don’t you fucking die on me, Cassandra! You can’t do that!” He tried lifting her, but he was too drunk and unstable. “Help!!!” He screamed even louder.

“Harry?” He heard a voice nearby.

Harry looked up, seeing Luke and Helena approaching them. The moment they saw the horror, they rushed over. “Someone shot her!” Harry choked out, still holding her. “We gotta help her!”

"What do we do?" Luke yelled as he knelt down across from Harry at Cassandra’s other hip.

"Stop the bleeding!" Helena suggested, taking off the coat she had on, revealing the pajamas she wore. "Here!"

Luke took it, putting pressure on the wounds.

"We need to tell Gordie! He's been reading books at the hospital." Helena got her phone out and called Gordie, telling him to hurry up and get there.

Cassandra was still shaking, putting a hand on Harry's arm as she coughed. He looked at her and brushed her bangs off her forehead. “It’s gonna be okay, Cass. I promise. You’re not gonna die. I won’t let you.” The girl in his arms weakly smiled up at him, her eyes softening a little as if to tell him it was going to be okay. “Cassandra, who did this? Who was it?” 

Just before she could even answer, Gordie came speeding over on his bike with a medical bag he took from the hospital on his shoulder and he jumped off the bike without even stopping. Luke moved out of the way and Gordie took his place at Cassandra’s side, Harry never letting her head out of his lap. “We have to get the bullets out!” Gordie spoke as he opened the medical bag, pulling out a pair of scissors and he cut open her dress to have better access to the bullet wounds. 

Luke and Helena both looked at each other in shock when they saw Cassandra’s scar on her chest for the first time. 

Next, Gordie pulled out a bovie pen to burn and cauterize the flesh so she wouldn’t bleed out. “This is gonna hurt, Cassandra. I’m sorry.” He wasted no time in turning it on and pressing the tip of the burning pen to the first bullet hole in her stomach.

Cassandra winced in pain, unintentionally digging her nails into Harry’s arm as she held it. Soon, that wound stopped bleeding and Gordie cauterized the second one, causing Cassandra to scream out. Harry immediately grabbed her hand, crying still. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve taken the trash out. I’m so so sorry.” He sniffled. “It should’ve been me.”

The blonde shook her head no and slowly reached up to place her pointer finger over his lips. “Shhh!” 

“Here we go!” Gordie said, holding a pair of forceps in his hand.

Harry grabbed Cassandra’s hand again. “You squeeze as hard as you want when it hurts.”

Without warning, Gordie reached into her skin with the forceps, fishing for the edges of the first bullet. Helena grabbed Luke’s arm as they watched, listening to Cassandra’s haunting screams. Her grip on Harry’s hand tightening so much that Harry’s arm went numb, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even notice. Soon, the first bullet was out and Cassandra’s screams turned into sobs. “One more. Just one more, Cassandra.” Gordie said, dropping the bullet onto the sidewalk before going in for the second one. Her screams were even more heart shattering this time as they were accompanied by her sobs and her begging him to stop.

“I know, I know.” Harry squeezed her hand back gently to let her know he was still there. “Shhhh.” He tried his best to keep her calm, though he was the complete opposite of calm seeing her like that. He looked down at what Gordie was doing, unintentionally saying out loud, “Oh my god.” He looked back into Cassandra’s eyes. “Almost done, almost done. You’re so strong.” 

Finally, the forceps got a steady hold on the second bullet and Gordie pulled it out, Cassandra letting out one last shrill scream before it was over and she exhaustedly cried. The others let out relieved breaths, silently celebrating, but soon, her eyes grew tired and heavy and her blinking slowed way down, sometimes her eyes not opening right away. 

“Cassandra?” Harry squeezed her hand again. “Come on, look at me. Please, I’m begging you. Stay just a little longer. We’ll stop the pain.” He looked up at Gordie.

“She needs an I.V. She lost too much blood. Can you carry her?” He asked Harry. “She needs to be in the hospital. There are better supplies there.”

Harry shook his head a little. “I tried. I need help.” 

“I got her.” Luke said, immediately going over and lifting her up. 

“We have to go now.” Gordie said, quickly standing up as Harry struggled with a wobble to do the same. 

“We can take my car. It gets up to two hundred.” Harry took his keys out of his pocket and held them up for anyone to take them. 

Gordie instantly grabbed them and they all rushed to Harry’s car, getting in, Luke and Harry in the back with Cassandra’s head in Harry’s lap while he ran his fingers through her hair and her legs sat in Luke’s lap. Helena sat in the passenger seat, looking back at Cass every now and then as she prayed out loud. Gordie drove as fast as he could. 

Cassandra’s eyes continued to close over and over again, this time taking longer for her to open them sometimes. “Hurry the fuck up, Gordie!” Harry yelled.

“We’re losing her!” Luke shouted, watching her closely. 

“We’re almost there.” Harry said to her, still playing with her hair a little. She weakly smiled again, reaching up to cup his face. “We’re almost there and then everything will be okay. I promise.” He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Next time, I’m taking the trash out. You hear me? I promise.” 

Cass smiled again and tried to let out a soft chuckle that turned into a cough instead and she grabbed Harry’s hand again just before her eyes got even heavier threatening to close for good.


	8. A Miracle

When they reached the hospital, Kelly was already there, waiting outside with a stretcher. The second Harry’s car stopped, he and Luke got out of the backseats and Luke carried Cassandra out, placing her on the stretcher and they quickly wheeled her inside on it, rushing to the nearest room. In the hall, Harry looked at Kelly with confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“Helping.” Kelly replied, making sure not to trip as they ran beside Cassandra.

“I called her.” Gordie pointed out. “She’s been helping me with some stuff around here.”

They made it the room, bringing Cassandra in and Gordie gave her an I.V. as soon as possible. Harry let out a breath, waiting for the blonde’s eyes to open. “She’s not waking up. Why isn’t she waking up?” He looked to Gordie.

“Give her a minute.” Gordie replied, though he wasn’t sure that’s what she needed. She needed more than a minute. She needed a miracle.

“We should check to see if any of her organs were affected.” Kelly suddenly remembered something she’d read in one of the hospital books.

“We’d need to do an X-ray for that.” The seventeen year old self-taught doctor responded.

Kelly took a second to think before a light bulb went off in her head and she recalled learning about portable X-ray machines. Before telling anyone why, she grabbed Luke’s hand and ran out of the room with him, sprinting down the hall and dragging him behind. Soon, they returned pushing a big, ivory colored machine into the room. “Here.” Kelly said, pointing to an outlet near Cassandra’s bed to show Luke where to plug in the machine.

They got everything set up and after fiddling with a few buttons, they managed to turn it on and started it up, the machine hovering over Cassandra’s bed, moving along it to get internal photos of her body.

“How’s she doing?” Gordie asked while he stood at the foot of the bed, reading another text book about gunshot wounds.

“She’s breathing.” Helena noted.

“And I still feel a pulse.” Kelly said after checking the pulse in Cassandra’s immovable wrist. She then checked her own pulse to compare it to the blonde’s. “Hers is really weak though.” She looked worried.

“Who would do this?” Luke asked himself, watching the X-ray machine continue to move over the unconscious teen.

“He would.” Gordie said, never looking up from his book, but everyone knew right away who he was talking about.

“Hey!” Harry started to approach him, but Luke stepped in front of him so he couldn’t get to Gordie. “I saved her life!” Harry shouted.

“No! I did!” Gordie shouted back, shutting the book and looking up at the other boy.

“Which you couldn’t have done if it weren’t for me finding her out there and yelling for help! You should be thanking me!” Harry tried getting passed Luke, who put a hand on Harry’s shoulder to stop him.

“Helena is the one that called me! Technically, I should be thanking her.” Gordie said in a much calmer voice, though it was still agitated.

“Guys, none of this fighting is going to save Cassandra!” Kelly pointed out.

“She’s right.” Helena jumped in. “What we should be doing is praying over her.”

“Yeah?” Harry said, looking around at all of them. “Praying over her? Is that what we fucking should be doing? Look at us! We’re a bunch of stupid fucking kids! We don’t know what we’re doing! None of us went to college. None of us knows why she won’t fucking wake up! How are we gonna help her if we don’t even know that?”

As Harry ranted, Gordie had begun to read again and he put a hand up at that last part. “Wait….I think I know why she’s not waking up.” He read a bit more before speaking again. “She lost too much blood. She needs a blood transfusion.”

“What the fuck does that mean? One of us gives her our blood?” Harry asked.

“Yes, but it can’t just be any one of us. We have to have the same blood type as her.” Gordie informed them before shutting the book and going over to the table in the corner of the room, getting more needles and I.V.s ready. “Who’s A-positive?”

“What the fuck is ‘A-positive?’” Harry asked in an irritated tone.

“It’s a blood type, Harry.” Helena said with a sigh.

“You think I would fucking know that?” He scoffed with an annoyed chuckle.

Helena sighed again and just stepped forward. “I’m O-positive. So I can give to her, too. Where do you need me?”

“Oh, um…” Gordie looked around the room. “Uh...Um, right there.” He pointed at the chair near the hospital bed. “Have you given before?”

“Yes.” Helena nodded, sitting down and putting one of her arms out.

“It’s best if you lie down, but another bed won’t fit in h-”

“I’ll be fine.” The Christian girl interrupted.

Gordie nodded, going over to her with another I.V. and a medical bag to be filled with Helena’s blood. “Kelly, I need you to start working on-”

“Already on it.” Kelly interrupted from the table over in the corner, already knowing what he would ask her. She read a text book that lay open on the table as she gathered some supplies, placing them on a medical tray.

“Already on what?” Harry asked, all the chaos overwhelming him and making him more dizzy than he already was.

Kelly came over with the tray, taking deep breaths as she did and she set the tray down beside the bed. She stopped for a moment to take in one more very big deep breath before she grabbed a suture from the tray and began to stitch up Cassandra’s bullet wounds.

“Oh...God!” Luke said as he watched and then his eyes fell to the I.V. in Helena’s arm. “I, uh...don’t do good with needles. I’ll be out-” Before he could finish his sentence, he let out a breath and went out into the hallway trying to calm down.

Harry watched Kelly do her thing for a bit before he looked at Cassandra’s face. Her skin pale, her lips blue, her eyes still closed, but moving under the eyelids, letting him know she was still here and he let out a breath. He slowly began to walk toward the head of the bed, never taking his eyes off of her.

Soon, he stood right by her shoulder and he looked down at her chest, making sure she continued to breathe, even just a little bit for now. His eyes soon fixated on her scar and he found himself reaching for it, wanting to feel it again as he quietly whispered. _“I shouldn’t have pulled away.”_

Just as his hand was about to feel her scar again, he was interrupted by a loud beeping noise and he jumped, looking around. “What was that?” He asked Kelly and Gordie.

“The X-ray is ready.” Kelly said, continuing with the stitches.

“Harry, can you get that?” Gordie asked, making sure Helena’s I.V. was in right.

Harry went to the machine with no hesitation, taking the x-ray photo out of the machine’s printer and he tried to examine it himself, but his vision was still compromised from how drunk and high he was. He decided to just bring it over to Gordie who stood up straight and took it from him.

“Thanks.” Gordie quickly said, holding it up to the light like he’d seen doctors do in movies and he looked closely at the image of Cassandra’s organs.

Harry was beginning to feel sick from all of this and he gulped, going over to the other side of Cassandra’s bed by the wall, and taking a seat in one of the other chairs.

Gordie let out a breath. “Oh, thank God.”

“Good news?” Kelly asked, sounding surprised and a bit proud of herself and Gordie.

“Very good news. Everything looks great. She should be alright. Let’s just hope this blood transfusion works and hopefully she wakes up tomorrow.”

Helena smiled brightly, letting out a breath as well and she looked up before whispering, _“Praise you, Jesus.”_ She closed her eyes and bowed her head. _“We are so thankful for your work in touching Cassandra, Father. We pray that you help us find whoever did this and touch their soul, dear God. Amen.”_ She finished her prayer and looked up again just in time to see Harry glaring at her with a look of ridicule. She rolled her own eyes and looked away from him, ignoring his judgments.

Gordie set Cassandra’s x-rays down on the doctor’s table and went back over to Cass, placing a finger monitor on her forefinger to keep track of her pulse and the moment he turned it on, they all heard the slow, consistent beeps of Cassandra’s pulse on the machine near her bed.

Harry couldn’t help but focus on the sound, paying close attention to its speed. He soon memorized exactly when it would beep next and how long it took before every time Cassandra’s eyes shifted under her eyelids.

Soon, Luke got ahold of himself and joined them again, going to Helena and kissing her forehead. “She’s going to be okay.” Helena told him with a small smile.

“Yeah, thanks to you guys.” Gordie repeated as he wrote down some notes. “What were you two doing out there before you found her?”

Over in the chair by the wall, Harry half-scoffed, half-chuckled when Gordie continued to act like Harry wasn’t even there. Though deep down, he knew he deserved that.

“Oh….Babe.” Helena looked up at Luke. “My phone. Will you go get it for me?”

Luke looked back at Gordie. “Helena left her phone at the inn after prom. We were on our way back to get it when we heard the gunshots.”

“I assumed it was just Campbell fooling around with his or something.” Helena added.

“So we didn’t think too much about it but suddenly we heard Harry screaming.” Luke continued. “And then we found them.”

“You didn’t hear or see anyone else out there?” Kelly asked, finishing the stitches on the first gunshot wound.

Luke and Helena both shook their heads no. “No, I didn’t see anybody.” Helena stated.

“Me neither.” Luke said sadly.

“Just him?” Gordie asked, his eyes shifting to Harry still in his chair, staring at Cassandra.

“Yeah.” Luke answered.

“Mhm.” Helena nodded.

“You gonna fucking help her wake up or are you gonna continue accusing **_me _**of trying to kill her?” Harry asked in a conniving voice, his eyes never leaving Cassandra until he finished saying his question...then his eyes snapped to the others in the room.

They all saw the hostility in his eyes and looked away, clearing their throats, though Kelly looked at him a bit longer than the others. She studied him for a brief second before continuing to stitch up the blonde.

“All done.” Gordie said, going over to Helena and he pulled her I.V. out, placing a square piece of gauze over the spot where the needle went in and placing tape over it. “Luke, go down to the vending machine to get her some chips and a juice please.” Luke nodded, kissing Helena’s hand before doing as Gordie said and he went out into the hall again. Just then, Gordie put a second I.V. in one of the veins of Cassandra’s hands and the blood transfusion began. “Thank you, Helena.” Gordie said. “She’ll be so grateful to hear you gave your blood to save her.”

“I’m just glad I could do something.” Helena replied, watching her own blood travel through the small tube and into Cassandra’s hand.

“All stitched up.” Kelly said, letting out a breath, relieved that it was over and she did an okay job. “Let’s hope it heals right and doesn’t get infected.”

“You did great, Kell. Thank you.” Gordie put a hand on Kelly’s back and they all looked at Cassandra again, just hoping and waiting for her to wake up.

After a bit, Luke came back with snacks for all of them and he even offered some to Harry who refused to take anything or even speak, still just focusing on Cassandra’s breathing and her pulse.

They all stayed for awhile and Helena prayed a few more times before she yawned. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost four in the morning.” Gordie answered her.

“We should all go home and get some rest.” Helena suggested, slowly standing with a little stretch.

Luke put a hand on her back and he yawned too. “Wanna go get your phone first, babe?” He asked her.

“No. I don’t think anyone should be walking out in the dark alone anymore.” Kelly pointed out. “Not even in pairs.”

“I agree.” Gordie said. “It’s too dangerous now.”

“Well...how are we gonna get home?” Luke wondered.

“How about…we all go to my place tonight?” Helena suggested. “Together. And we tell no one about this until tomorrow.”

“Deal.” Kelly said first.

“Deal.” Gordie nodded.

“Deal.” Luke added.

“Come on.” Helena said and the four of them headed for the door.

Kelly was the last one about to leave when she turned to look back at Cass, realizing Harry hadn’t moved an inch. “You coming, Harry?” She asked softly, exhaustion in her tone.

“I’m not going to that Bible thumper’s house.” He said, never taking his eyes off of Cassandra. “I’m going home when I feel like it. To my home.”

Kelly just nodded, biting her lip and she left with the others, leaving Harry alone with an unconscious Cassandra.

Moments after the others had left, Harry leaned over in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees and he looked down at the floor before suddenly bursting out into tears. He sobbed, taking Cassandra’s hand that was closest to him on the bed and he squeezed it, waiting for her to squeeze back, but she never did.

_“Please wake up, Cassandra...Please.”_ He sniffled, bringing her hand up to his forehead as he continued to cry.

Soon, he cried himself to sleep, his head resting on the side of the bed near Cassandra’s shoulder. And there they both were. Some miracle that he’d be the one asleep by her side in a moment like this. Both almost gone in completely different ways. Her prom dress still cut open, revealing her new broken skin and her old scar. His prom tuxedo stained with her blood and a few broken buttons. Truthfully, that night ended up being the first time Harry was able to sleep for more than an hour without waking up, though it was the comfort of still hearing Cassandra’s pulse beeps on the machine near the bed that made that possible, drowning out all the usual thoughts that woke him up in the night. And being beside her, sleeping with her hand still in his, seemed to keep him sane. Harry Bingham and Cassandra Pressman. It really was a miracle.


	9. Worse

The next morning, Helena had gone to the hospital bright and early considering she barely had any sleep following the events of the night before. Prom night was supposed to be special. Something she could tell her grandkids about one day. Now it was a night she wished she could forget. All that blood. Cassandra’s, her own...more of Cassandra’s all over Harry’s shirt. When she closed her eyes, it was all she could see. No wonder she couldn’t sleep.

She had stopped at the church on her way over to the hospital first, grabbing her Bible before going to the inn and looking for her phone. She ran passed the stain of blood on the sidewalk as if maybe the shooter would strike there once again and this time, she’d be the victim.

After finding her phone on the bathroom sink inside last night’s prom venue, she rushed out of the place and made her way over to the hospital.

The moment she opened the door to Cassandra’s room, she was taken aback to see Harry still in his tux, asleep beside the unconscious blonde. She stared for a moment, blinking her eyes in case she **_had_** fallen asleep and this was just some odd dream. After a second or two, she knew she was awake and she stepped further into the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

She slowly stepped over to the opposite side of Cassandra’s bed, across from Harry, and placed a hand on Cass’ arm. Helena reached up with her free hand and brushed some of Cassandra’s hair out of her face as she sighed. Soon her eyes fell to Harry and she whispered, _“Oh, Harry….what have you done?”_ She looked back at Cass and sighed once more before she closed her eyes and began to pray as hard as she could for the blonde to wake up. _“Amen.”_ Helena heard a quick gasp and she quickly opened her eyes to see Harry jolting awake, sitting up straight in the chair by the bed. “Are you actually gonna tell us exactly what happened last night? Or are you too hungover to remember?”

Harry rolled his eyes before groaning and running a hand through his own hair. “Yes, I remember.”

“Well?” Helena folded her arms across her chest, waiting for him to respond.

“We were cleaning up and some psychopath shot her when she was taking the trash out. I don’t know who it was because I was still inside when it happened. I heard the gunshots and ran outside as fast as fucking possible but the asshole was already gone by the time I found Cassandra. You know the rest because you were there.” He stood up, going over to the sink by the table in the corner of the room and he turned the faucet on, running his face under it before drinking some of the water.

“It really wasn’t you?” Helena asked as she watched him.

Harry turned off the water and stood up straight again. He kept his back to her as he clenched his jaw with frustration. Grabbing a few paper towels from the dispenser, he dried off his face and let the towels fall to the floor without a care as he turned to look at Helena. “No, I didn’t fucking do it.” He said with more annoyance and pain in his tone than anger or anything else. “I just fucking told you I was inside!” He went over to the chairs against the wall, far from the hospital bed, and he plopped down on one, slouching immediately and staring at the floor.

“I know, but you understand how this looks, right?” Helena asked him, walking around the bed to stand directly in front of him. “Everyone knows how much you hate her.”

“I never-” He bit his lip and shook his head. “What the fuck ever, man.”

Helena stared at him for a bit before she spoke again. “Allie knows...Gordie told her last night.” She watched as Harry just continued to stare at the floor as if looking straight through it. She sighed before slowly moving to sit in the chair beside him. “There’s gonna be a meeting at the church to tell everyone.”

“So what?” He said as he bounced his leg.

“So….you need to be there.” She looked over at him, “You have to tell them what happened.”

He scoffed. “Like they’ll believe me...Even you don’t fucking believe me. Why would they?”

“Whether we believe you or not….you were the only one there. The only witness. It has to be you.” Harry didn’t say a word though his eyes finally moved, looking up at Cassandra on the bed, his heart breaking the moment he saw her like that again. Helena followed his gaze and looked over at Cass again as well, her own eyes landing on the blonde’s scar down the center of her chest. “Did you know?” She wondered. “About her heart?”

“Yeah.” He admitted. “Except I just found out when we got here.”

“Why would she hide that from all of us?” She looked to Harry again who just shrugged. Helena looked him up and down, seeing him in that bloody tux again. The harsh shade of red against white causing Helena’s body to slightly shudder. “You were here all night, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Harry, you should go home and get some more rest.” She suggested.

He slouched more in the chair. “ Right here’s fine.” The preacher’s daughter opened her mouth, about to protest before they heard Cassandra’s heart monitor suddenly beeping faster than before. Harry sat up straighter and looked at the monitor’s screen before looking back at the girl. “Cass? Cass?” The beeping slowed once again, back to its normal pace and Harry sighed.

“I think we should go.” Helena suddenly spoke.

“Why?” He wondered and looked at Helena who was looking out the window, pointing to all the teens headed into the church, indicating that it was time for the meeting.

Harry sighed, not wanting to leave but he knew he had to. He needed to go in there to see if he could tell who the coward with the gun was. He wanted to look at everyone in there and tell them what needed to be said. He stood up just as Helena did and they headed for the door.

“Wait.” Helena said turning to look at him before leaving. “They can’t see you like this. They’ll panic before we can even say anything.” She looked around trying to find something to replace his bloody shirt with.

“Here.” He buttoned up his tux jacket, the black fabric covering the stains. “Better?”

“Better.” She nodded once and then they headed over to the church.

Helena gulped as she approached the podium at the church altar, looking around at everyone, knowing that this was probably going to be the worst day of her life. Yes, even worse than finding out their parents had disappeared. Worse, because she knew that this would go one or two ways. One...everyone panics and an even worse riot than the night of Fugitive breaks out, leaving several more kids hurt or even killed. Or two...no one cares enough to try and find the perpetrator who shot one of their own and the shooter roams free...leaving everyone else in danger as well. Either way...Helena was sure the worst would happen. Even saying twelve silent prayers to herself on the way up to that podium, she still felt hopeless in that moment. Even God seemed to have disappeared with their parents. And she felt more alone than she ever had in her life.

She cleared her throat once everyone was seated. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why we called you here today...especially so early after the night we all had.” She weakly chuckled, trying to keep it together, her eyes roaming the room. Some kids laughed or high-fived remembering their memories from prom the night before. Other kids groaned at the sudden clap of hands high-fiving because their heads were still spinning from a massive hangover. Helena cleared her throat again. “I’m sure most of you had a great time at the prom and even after.” Her eyes fell to Luke who sat in the third row with Clark and Grizz. Seeing her boyfriend so afraid like that scared her. Luke was putting on a good face for the others around him, but Helena could always see right through him. She snapped herself out of her thoughts of concern for him...remembering that Cassandra was in worse condition than he was. “But the truth is….not everyone had such a good time after prom last night.” She felt her body temperature rising and a lump formed in her throat as her eyes roamed the church sanctuary again.

Suddenly, her eyes fell upon Allie and she felt her own heart stop. Allie was pale in the face, moreso than usual, and her eyes were red and puffy, dark circles underlining them. She almost resembled a ghost gasping for air to breathe. Her eyes, wet and teary and she looked like she’d be sick any moment. Helena hesitated to continue with Cassandra’s little sister present, but she knew she had to and she looked down at the empty podium in front of her.

Finally, Helena got ahold of herself and looked up at everyone again, making sure not to look at any of the teens who already knew, and she spoke. “Cassandra was shot last night. Right outside the inn after prom.” An audible gasp came from the crowd of teens and they all began to murmur or shout questions. “Ple-Please one at a time.” Helena shouted over them and it quieted down a little. “Um...we-we don’t know who did it...but there was a witness who was there right after it happened.” She made eye contact with Harry who sat in one of the last rows and she nodded.

Harry sighed, really not wanting to do this anymore, but he knew she was looking at him and it was already too late, so he very slowly stood up and stepped into the aisle, the gasps and murmurs even louder than before as he walked up to the podium. Helena stepped aside and let him stand behind it. He held the sides of it, slouching over a little as if to speak directly into the microphone which was not on. “C-Cassandra is alive.” He wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to say, considering Helena basically told them the important parts already. The kids all murmured again once he said that. “Thanks to, uh...Kelly, and Luke, and Helena last night, we-Oh! And….Gordie…,” he seemed to say his name with disgust, “...we were able to save her life.”

“Yeah, right!” Someone from the crowd said.

“You’re probably the one that shot her!” Another shouted.

“No way you saved her!” The first voice jumped in again.

“I-” Harry was about to speak but he was interrupted.

“We should arrest him or something!” A new voice suggested.

“Guys, guys…” Helena tried to calm them down, but it got loud again.

Everyone except for Allie and maybe a few others were beginning to argue about the situation. Harry’s friends had his back while other kids agreed that perhaps he had done it. He couldn’t take it anymore. All of this hatred and division was his fault. All because he never stood up for Cassandra back in sixth grade, this severance started. Team Harry? Team Cassandra? It was so fucking stupid. But no more. He was going to do something. For once. _“Be brave. Stop being such a coward. You’re just as bad as the shooter,”_ he told himself.

Suddenly, Harry stepped out from behind the podium so they could all see him better and he unbuttoned his tux jacket, pulling it off and letting it drop to the floor, revealing his shirt covered in Cassandra’s blood.

The room went silent.

Everyone froze, staring up at him, standing there as if nothing affected him in that moment. Allie stood up from her seat and ran out of the church.

Now that he knew he had everyone’s attention, Harry spoke again. “Cassandra is alive. But she hasn’t woken up yet. She can’t tell us who it was that did this to her.” He felt his tears threatening to fall, but he refused to show them in front of everyone at the moment. “But we’re gonna find them.” He began to scan the room with his eyes as if trying to detect who it was. “And when we do….we’re going to make them pay for it. Yeah, I don’t get along with Cassandra and I don’t agree with her methods of running this place….but shooting someone just because of that...is wrong…..And it’s a crime…..No matter what earth we live on….To the shooter, I hope you know that you only made things worse for us here by doing what you did.” He continued to scan the room. “An eye for an eye…..Whoever did this…..will be shot too as punishment.” He was going to add the words _‘by me,’_ but he bit his lip to stop himself.

His eyes finished scanning the room and when he couldn’t decide who the shooter was, he sighed and left the church, his thoughts all over the place.


	10. For Me

After the meeting had ended and everyone had left the church, Helena gathered her thoughts once again and headed back over to the hospital. Once she reached the sliding glass doors that led into the building, she heard something behind one of the brick pillars outside the entrance to the hospital. She turned to see Harry, sitting on the ground with his back against the building. His elbows rested on his propped up knees as his hands dangled out in front of him.

Helena looked at him for a while before she went to sit on the ground beside him. She saw how disheveled his hair was and noticed that he was still in the bloody tux and she sighed. “Maybe you should try praying for her.” She quietly suggested, receiving nothing but a ridiculous scoff from the boy. “I’m sure she doesn’t blame you, Harry. You had no idea that was going to happen.”

“I shouldn’t have let her go outside by herself.” He shook his head, internally kicking himself. “Especially at night.”

“It’s not your fault….Ever since we got here….wherever this is...we’ve expected it to be safe. With no crazy adults around...how could you have known she would be-”

“It’s everything **_but_** safe here, Helena. People have been turning on each other since the beginning...And that’s my fault.” He put his right hand up to the side of his face, tilting his head into his own hand as he stared at the ground, expressionless. “It’s only gonna get worse now. Especially if she doesn’t wake up.”

“She is going to wake up, Harry.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No. I don’t.” Helena admitted. “But that’s why we need to pray she gets better. She’s the only one who can stop more chaos from happening here.”

“Fine….Fine, alright? I’ll pray.” He let his arms dangle over his knees again and folded his hands together, looking at them before looking at Helena. “How do I do that?”

Helena couldn’t help but smile a little and she folded her hands together too. “Just close your eyes and ask God to save her. Talk to Him just like He’s a person….But be nice.” She chuckled.

“How do I talk to someone that doesn’t exi-” He bit his lip, knowing this wasn’t the time and he just nodded. “O-Okay.” He said, sounding unsure, but he soon closed his eyes, squeezing his hands tighter together. _“This is ridiculous.”_ He whispered to himself before closing his eyes.

“Just have faith.” She said calmly.

Harry softly sighed, still not believing this would work or even help anybody, but he began to quietly pray, mumbling so Helena couldn’t understand a word he said. She watched him pray, softly smiling and after a while, she gently placed a hand on his back. He flinched at the touch, opening his eyes and looking at her.

“Ready to go home now?” She asked him, mostly because she really wanted him to get out of those bloody clothes.

Harry instantly shook his head no. “I’m going back in to see her.”

“Would you like some company?” Helena wondered.

“Sure.” He said though he truly just wanted to be alone again. But he stood and waited for Helena to stand as well and they headed back inside.

Once they opened the door to Cassandra’s room, they were a bit startled to see Allie standing by her sister’s bed. Allie looked to the door, her puffy eyes immediately turning dark with fury as she saw Harry. “What the fuck are you doing here?” She asked him with a sharp tone in her voice.

“Who? Me?” Harry asked, obviously already knowing she meant him.

“Yes...You.” Allie spoke with more of an attitude than usual.

“Allie, if it weren’t for Harry, Cassandra wouldn’t even be here right now. He saved her.” Helena said before Harry could say anything.

“Get out.” The younger Pressman sister spoke quietly, though they could hear the rage in her tone.

“Allie-” Helena began to protest, but Harry interrupted her.

“No, no. She’s right. I shouldn’t be here.” Harry said though he felt an awful pain in his chest at the thought of leaving. He gulped and turned, about to leave but Helena grabbed his wrist.

“Allie, just let him stay.” Helena politely demanded.

“She wouldn’t want him here.” Allie spoke for her unconscious sister.

“You don’t know that.” The brunette girl responded. “I bet if she knew that he saved her….she would let him stay.” It was quiet for a moment. “You should’ve heard the rest of what he had to say at the church earlier, Allie. He wants to fight so hard to find out who did this. And he wants to punish them for it. Don’t you?” It was quiet again. “Don’t push him away when he can help.”

Allie folded her arms over her chest as she looked at her sister’s long time enemy in the eye. Harry looked back at her, gulping a little at the way she looked at him, knowing she was trying to decide if she believed his side of the story or not. “You really have no idea who it was?” She finally broke the silence.

“No. I really don’t, Allie. Believe me.” He practically begged with the tone of his voice.

They continued to look at each other for a moment before Allie let her arms fall to her sides. “Come in.” She said, slowly turning to face Cassandra on the bed again.

“Really?” Harry asked, still standing in the doorway.

“Yeah. It’s fine.” Allie said with her back still to them.

Helena put a hand on Harry’s arm, pulling him a bit further into the room before shutting the door. She went over to stand by Allie, putting a hand on her back for comfort as they looked down at Cassandra in the bed. Harry went back over to the chair beside the bed and sat in it as he looked up at Cass, almost as if his eyes were willing her to open hers.

“Will she remember?” Allie asked. “When she wakes up….will she tell us who did this?”

“Let’s hope so.” Helena said softly, rubbing Allie’s back a little.

“What if it was Campbell?” Allie straightened her posture a little as she thought of him.

“Why would he shoot his own cousin?” Harry asked, though he right away knew that was a bit of a dumb question.

“He’s the only one here with a gun, right?” Allie pointed out.

“That we know of.” Helena added, clearing her throat a little.

“I remember when we were kids...And we’d have family gatherings at his house or at our house...he wasn’t very nice to any of us. Not even Sam.” Allie looked at her sister again. “But he was more horrible to Cassandra than any of us.” Harry finally looked away from Cass and up at Allie as she continued. “I remember this one Summer...they switched Cassandra’s heart medicine and it made her really drowsy. Like all the time, she fell asleep no matter where we were. And the heat didn’t help. So the doctors said that she wasn’t allowed to go swimming.”

“Wow.” Helena quietly whispered to herself as they listened.

“We went to Sam and Campbell’s for the Fourth of July that year and everyone went inside to get something to eat, but Cassandra fell asleep on one of the chairs by their pool.” Allie kept her eyes on Cass as she continued. “Campbell stayed out when we all went in and he pushed her into the pool.”

Helena gasped.

“That’s fucked up.” Harry said under his breath.

“That’s Campbell.” Allie said, finally looking away from Cassandra and at Harry. “Luckily she woke up and swam to the side of the pool.”

“What did the adults do?” Helena wondered.

“They believed Campbell when he said it was just an accident and that he bumped into the chair, but Sam and I knew he was lying.”

Helena slowly shook her head in disbelief and looked back at Cassandra. Allie moved closer to the head of the bed, placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder. Harry looked back at Cassandra and took her hand, almost ignoring Allie and Helena’s presence. Cass’s little sister was so focused on her that she didn’t notice.

But Helena did….Helena **_definitely_** did. Her eyes stayed fixated on Harry’s hand holding Cassandra’s and her head began to spin, so much being revealed all of a sudden. She would expect Cassandra to grab Harry’s hand if he was in her situation, but never did she think that Harry would be the one grabbing Cassandra’s.

She snapped out of her thoughts and cleared her throat. “I’m going to get us some food. It’s important that the both of you eat.”

“I don’t want to.” Harry mumbled.

“You have to.” Helena insisted.

“I’m fine.” Harry protested, staring at the heart monitor screen, paying attention to Cassandra’s heart beats.

Helena sighed at Harry’s words and looked at the younger Pressman girl. “Allie, what would you like to eat?”

“I’ll come with you.” Allie said. “I can’t stay here seeing her like this.” She shook her head and walked to the door.

Helena hesitated to leave right away, looking at Harry. “I’m going to bring you some food whether you want me to or not.”

And with that...she left with Allie, but not before getting one last look at Harry squeezing Cassandra’s hand.

Once he was alone again, Harry brought Cassandra’s hand up to his mouth, kissing the back of it before he whispered, _“I’m so sorry.”_

Suddenly, he heard a small hum come from Cassandra’s lips before she quietly spoke. _“Hmmm, why?”_ She slowly turned her head a bit to face him and her eyes carefully opened.

Harry straightened his posture as his eyes widened and he moved to sit on the edge of his chair. “Cassandra?”

_“Hello, Harry.”_ She spoke softly, squeezing his hand.

“C-Cass! I have to-” He started to stand up, but Cassandra wouldn’t let him, pulling him back down to sit.

_“Shhh...I just want to be alone with you.”_

“W-Why?” He asked, gulping a little.

_“Please stop drinking.”_ She whispered, squeezing his hand again as she closed her eyes.

“What?”

_“It’s not good for you.”_ She opened her eyes again, looking even deeper into his this time. She laced their fingers together, causing Harry’s heart to jump and his stomach erupted with butterflies as she held his hand like that.

“Cassandra, who did this to you?” He asked, changing the subject from the alcohol.

_“I-I can’t remember.”_

Harry let his head sadly fall and he sighed. “Goddammit!” He said quietly under his breath.

“Harry, why did you say those things about me?”

“What? What things?” He asked with confusion in his tone.

“What Clark and Jason said at the restaurant. About you wanting me to-” She stopped, unable to say it.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut as she brought it up.

Cassandra’s grip on the boy’s hand loosened and she nodded to herself, looking up at the ceiling, feeling a lump in her throat. “I was just starting to trust you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have.” He replied, looking up at her. “I’m no good.” He let go of her hand and sat back in his chair.

“Harry, I don’t think that’s true.”

“It is.”

“It isn’t. You’re just too concerned with your appearance and your reputation to realize that you and I could be friends.” The blonde said, fiddling with the bedsheet, her hand feeling too empty now that he let go of her.

Harry let out a wry chuckle. “Yeah, no. I don’t think we could ever be friends.” He shook his head, slouching more in the chair.

“Why not, Harry? We had such a good day at the restaurant.”

“Because I-” He let out a breath, just barely stopping himself from telling her that he would want to be more than friends. “That was just one day, Cassandra. We never got along before then and we never will, okay? I’m not your friend.”

“Then why are you even here?” Her eyes snapped back to him and her voice softened before she asked her next question. _“And why aren’t you eating?”_

He let out a breath as she asked that, now knowing that she had been awake before Allie and Helena had even left. Which confirmed that she truly did fake being asleep just so she could talk to him alone. It took him a second to process that before he put his guard back up and spoke to her harshly like he always had. “I’m here because I might be a dick, but I’m not just gonna let you die! What kind of fucked up question is that?!” He felt a horrible sharp pain in his chest after speaking to her like that, but he purposefully avoided her question about his refusal to eat.

“God! I can’t believe I kissed you!” She snapped, her voice breaking.

“What?!” Harry asked with an odd look on his face.

“What do you mean what?!” She frustratedly looked back up at the ceiling.

“When the fuck did you kiss me?” He asked, pretending he forgot all about sixth grade.

“In the restaurant. On the cheek! You really forgot about that?!” She shook her head. “God, I’m so...so fucking stupid for ever thinking you were-”

“Oh my God!” He groaned, covering his face with his hands. “Just shut up, Cassandra. That doesn’t fucking count as a kiss.”

“Well, maybe it didn’t mean anything to you, but it meant something to me, okay?” Her voice broke again and the room fell silent. Harry just looked at her, biting the inside of his cheek. “I just….thought…” She stopped speaking.

“Thought what, Cassandra?”

“Nevermind.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, looking away from her. “You really think nothing means anything to me, don’t you?”

She finally looked at him again. “What?”

“You think I have no feelings, right?”

“No. That's not it. I actually think you have the most feelings out of everyone here. That's why you drink so much. But I just know that nothing **_I_** do matters.”

Harry looked at her again. “Huh?”

“Nothing I do matters to you.” Cass repeated.

“Why do you think that?” He wondered, though he obviously knew that his attitude toward her all these years definitely made it seem that way, though it wasn’t true.

“You just said so yourself. You and I can never be friends.”

He sighed. “That doesn’t mean nothing you do matters to me. And even if so….that’s not the reason we can’t be friends.”

“Then what **_is_** the reason?”

“It’s-I-...” He sighed. “I don’t know, okay!?”

Cassandra looked back up to the ceiling. “I never should’ve woken up.”

“No!” He said a little too quickly before clearing his throat. Cassandra looked at him. “Uh...We all need you.”

“That’s not fair.” She said calmly.

“You’re right….It’s not.” He admitted. “But you’re good at this. You’re good at leading us and telling us what to do. People listen to you.”

“Yeah and apparently shoot me too.” She said in a joking tone though her eyes were anything but laughing.

_“Jesus.”_ Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and stood up to walk around the chair before facing her again. “No matter what I say or do, it’s always the wrong fucking thing!” He shook his head. “Especially with you. That’s why I say the shit that I say to you, Cassandra. Because then...at least I _**know**_ what I said wrong. But even when I try to do or say the right thing, you’re always pissed!”

“I’m not pissed, Harry! I’m exhausted!” She snapped.

“And you think I’m not?!” He snapped right back.

She looked up at the ceiling again, shaking her head before lowering her voice. “I just don’t understand what we are. Or what our feelings are. You’re so fucking confusing. This is all so fucking confusing.”

“What’s confusing, Cassandra?” He asked in a calmer tone as well.

“The way you treat me should make me hate you. But I don’t. I don’t hate you. I-” She stopped and put a hand on her forehead.

“You what, Cassandra?” He asked, unintentionally taking a step forward as if internally begging her to say those three words.

“I-I-....I don’t know. I just….I don’t hate you.” She stopped herself from almost saying them, unaware that he wanted her to.

There was a pain in Harry’s chest when that’s all she could say and angry about that, he put his guard right back up, just as he was about to let it down. “Well….Good for you.” He said, intentionally being an asshole so he wouldn’t feel the pain of how much he wanted her to feel the way he did.

Cassandra’s eyes welled up with tears and she continued to stare at the ceiling for a while before she used the button on the bed to lift it so she was sitting up and no longer lying flat. Once she was sitting up completely, she let go of the button and groaned at the pain she felt in her stomach from both gunshot wounds. She hissed, looking down at her bare stomach and her ruined prom dress. Her tears threatened to fall as she looked at her dream dress in that condition but she told herself not to cry in front of Harry and she took in a deep breath, ignoring the emotional pain though the physical pain in her bullet wounds was harder to ignore and she groaned again.

Harry watched her do all that and he sighed before sitting back down in the chair. “Let’s just keep the peace until you’re better. Okay?”

“Only if you do me a favor.” She finally looked back at him in the chair beside her bed.

“What’s that?” He asked her.

“Please eat.” Cass looked at him as he hesitated to answer her, biting his lip. “Please?” She asked again, practically begging him. Her hand still fiddled with the bedsheet, the emptiness in it never going away. When he hadn’t answered for a bit, she turned her hand over and looked at it as if offering it for him to take it again. “For me.”

Harry looked at her hand for a while, her last two words ringing in his ears. He bit the inside of his cheek before reaching out, taking her hand again. “Okay….I’ll eat. For you.”

She held back her smile as he took her hand again. “And for you.” Cassandra insisted. Harry bit his cheek again. “Say it.” The blonde demanded. “You’ll eat for you.”

He sighed. “I’ll eat for me.”

“Good.” She let her smile show as he said that and unintentionally squeezed his hand.

Looking at her smile, even a little bit, caused Harry’s heart to flutter and he wondered how he was this lucky for her to not hate him. He still couldn’t believe that she said that. He deserved to be hated by her. He believed she did all these years. But hearing her say that she didn’t seemed to lift some weight off of his shoulders.

He couldn’t help but softly smile as well, squeezing her hand back.

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**A/N: I was not expecting this chapter to be this long, but here it is! I like where it ends so I don’t want to split it up into two chapters. I hope you’re liking this so far. Please leave me comments and reviews. I need the motivation and feedback from you guys!**

**P.S. Check out the Hassandra video edit I made to their song “Familiar” in the links below.**

**Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX3kq6nyRic**

**Instagram: **https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Unvq_gcNg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link****


	11. Covered

It was silent between the two for a while as they just held hands, Cassandra looking down at their intertwined fingers, day dreaming. Harry, however, just kept his eyes on her, admiring every one of her features.

Her eyebrows seemed flawless, even without makeup, as they perfectly rested over her sparkling, sky-blue eyes. The creases that underlined them created a small baggy look to her, but Harry really liked it. He couldn’t help but think of them as accents to everything she had ever been through, showing him how brave and strong she was, making her even more beautiful to him.

His eyes slid down the bridge of her nose as he noted how symmetrical it made all of her features, proving how compatible they were with each other. Once his eyes reached the tip of her nose, he couldn’t help but think about how adorable it was and how it gave her such a soft, approachable face. It was a nose that you would expect to rest upon only the kindest of faces. One of her character traits that he liked the most about Cassandra was, in fact, her kindness. So he believed that the shape of her nose matched perfectly with her personality.

He then looked down to her lips, desperately longing to lean in and kiss them, though he assumed that would ruin everything or make things much worse.

Soon, Cassandra spoke, the air carrying her voice over to Harry’s ears and snapping him out of his daze. “Could you, uh, find me a hospital gown or something?” She looked down at her ripped up dress. “It’s a bit chilly in here.”

Harry bit his lip, keeping his eyes only on hers now as he stood with a nod. “Sure.” Cassandra sent him a grateful smile and he began to search the room, checking under the sink and in the cupboards over it. Soon, he spotted a whole stack of folded gowns in one of the large drawers under the sink and he grabbed one, bringing it over to Cass as he stood by the bed. “This is all I could find.”

“Thank you.” The blonde sat up even more before turning sideways and dangling her legs over the side of the bed. She started to pull off her prom dress, Harry turning away from her immediately, refusing to look. Not even once. Cassandra let her dress fall into the chair beside her bed as she looked down at her bullet wounds, gently feeling the stitches with a small hiss of pain.

“You alright?” Harry wondered, still looking straight ahead at the wall.

“Mhm.” She said, seeing the few drops of blood that had stained her beige-colored, flowery bra and panties. “Harry?”

“Hm?” He replied, looking over at the door so he wouldn’t see her in the corner of his eye, the temptation to look at her growing unbearable.

“Can I have the gown now please?” She slightly shivered in the cold.

“Oh...Yeah...Sorry.” He pushed his arm out a little further toward her, still keeping his head faced the other way.

Cassandra stared at him for a moment, gulping as he never even snuck in a peek and she sadly took the gown from him, her fingers grazing his just slightly and she noticed him tense up at the contact. About to say something, the blonde just shook her head at herself and put the hospital gown on, buttoning it up in the front, instead of the back, so it’d be easier to get to her wounds if needed. “You can look now.” She said quietly once she was fully covered.

Harry heard the sadness in her tone and turned to face her again, seeing that her head was down and that she had buttoned the gown all the way up to cover her scar. Her hands were clutching the fabric of the gown that laid over her chest. “I’m sorry, Cassandra.”

“It’s alright.” She said immediately, still looking down at the floor as her feet gently swung back and forth in the air.

“I-I didn’t look, not because I think you’re not….It-It’s not that you’re not…” He sighed.

“I said it’s alright, Harry.” She tried to reassure him with a melancholy, but understanding tone. “I get it. I face away from the mirror in my room when I get dressed because I don’t wanna see my body eithe-”

“No, Cassandra. I-” Harry sighed again. “That’s not it. I just feel like….It feels wrong to me.”

“What feels wrong?” She asked him.

“Looking at you….like… _that.”_ He confessed.

Cassandra stopped swinging her legs. “Like what?”

Harry sighed again. “Like….Like I would look at any other girl. Like...I don’t know how to explain it. I just….It doesn’t feel right to me...seeing you half naked. Like I’m not supposed to. It makes me feel disrespectful.” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

The girl finally looked up at him standing diagonally from her by the hospital chair. She couldn’t help but hold a hint of a smile. “That’s really sweet.” She spoke in a smaller voice.

“Sweet?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah. Most guys would look at any half naked girl with no shame. They’d usually regret it after seeing me and my scar, but they’d still look before they knew.” She mumbled that last part more to herself than to him.

“I usually would look. But...not with you.” He could feel his face getting warmer as he internally told himself to shut up.

“And that’s why I called you sweet.” She finally let go of the gown and let her hands rest by her hips on the bed, swinging her feet again. “Even after all that stuff you said to your friends...you still never treat me like that...Is that why you pulled your hand away in the rain? You didn’t feel like you were allowed to touch me there?”

The brunette boy gulped a little and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the floor. “Uh, yeah.” He admitted.

Cassandra sweetly smiled to herself. “Come here.” She patted the spot on the bed next to her. “Sit.”

Harry’s butterflies instantly fluttered, but he obeyed her, moving to sit right beside her on the side of the bed, his feet dangling right next to hers. “What now?” He asked, staring down at how much longer his legs were than hers.

“Look at me.” The blonde turned her body to face him, placing one leg up on the bed, half criss-cross applesauce, as the other leg continued to dangle.

Harry softly cleared his throat and did as he was told, turning his body to face hers a little more as well, though not enough to lift his leg up like hers was. He bit his lip, keeping his eyes down on the floor.

Without a word, Cassandra began to slowly unbutton the hospital gown, just enough to reveal her scar and a bit of her cleavage. Keeping her eyes on him, she gently took one of his hands and began to guide it to her scar like that night. “It’s alright.” She spoke as she noticed all Harry looked at was her hand touching his. The moment he could see her cleavage even just a bit, he looked up into her eyes, not wanting to look there again, still feeling disrespectful. Cassandra made him run his fingers up and down her scar to feel the flawed texture of it, the skin a bit more tender and smooth, though it was a small bump that protruded just a bit from her chest. “See?” She softly smiled. “It’s not as gross as everyone thinks.”

“I-...I never thought it was gross.” Harry admitted, still looking into her eyes, his heart racing.

The blonde’s eyes softened though her smile remained on her lips. She slowly moved his hand under the hospital gown to cup her breast over her bra.

Harry let out a breath. _“C-Cassandra, what are you doing?”_ He unintentionally whispered, never taking his eyes off hers.

She smiled a bit more and whispered back. _“I trust you.”_ She gently bit her lip and moved his hand under her bra so he cupped her bare breast, feeling her slightly hardened nipple.

Harry gulped again, his butterflies fluttering even more intensely as he let his eyes finally look down at his hand under the bra. He only looked for a brief moment though before quickly looking into her eyes again. “W-Wait. Cassandra.”

“I’m-I’m sorry.” Cass slowly let go of his hand, expecting him to pull his hand away, but he didn’t.

“Tell me what you want.” Harry said calmly, keeping his hand exactly where she left it, waiting for her answer.

_“Kiss me.”_ She whispered, inching a bit closer to him so he could feel her breast even more against his hand.

He looked at her lips with another gulp before pulling away, placing his hand on his knee though he immediately missed where it was before. “I can’t….I’m sorry, Cassandra.”

She sadly looked down, fixing her bra so that it covered her properly again. “It’s fine.” She spoke in a small voice again.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” The boy admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m such a dick. If I kiss you...I’ll just end up hurting you later.” He shook his head at himself, feeling the urge to stand up and kick something.

“But you don’t want to.” Cassandra responded.

“What? Kiss you?”

“No…” She looked at him again. “Hurt me.”

“Of course I don’t want to hurt you, Cassandra.” He said truthfully.

“Then kiss me.” She demanded once again. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

He gently scoffed. “You don’t know that.”

“I know that you won’t hurt me **_right now_**…..And right now is all I care about, Harry. So kiss me.”

It grew silent.

Harry just gazing into her eyes as he internally battled with himself, unsure of what to do and suddenly, he let out a breath and whispered. _“Fuck it!”_

He instantly leaned over, cupping Cassandra’s face with both of his hands and he kissed her passionately. Cassandra let out a breath into his mouth and she smiled as they kissed. Her mind began to spin as her arms moved to wrap around his neck and she unintentionally hummed while the kiss grew a bit more intense. Harry’s hand moved back under her bra, gently kneading her breast, causing her nipple to harden once again under his hand.

Their breathing grew heavier and she put a hand into his hair, massaging as she tilted her head in the kiss. He gently pushed her back to lie down on the pillow and he crawled more onto the bed to hover over her, sliding one of her bra straps down off of her shoulder.

_“Wait, wait.”_ Cassandra broke the kiss and put her pointer finger over the boy’s lips to keep him quiet. _“I think I hear someone coming.”_

Harry waited to listen and he too, could hear footsteps down the hall of the hospital. Both teens quickly sat back up, fixing their hair before Cass fixed her bra strap and buttoned the hospital gown up as fast as possible. Harry hopped down off the bed to stand beside it, the both of them clearing their throats as they looked to the doorknob, seeing it turn.

The moment the door opened, they were greeted by Allie, Helena, and Gordie who all stopped the moment they saw Cassandra sitting up with a bright smile on her face. “Hi, guys.” Cass said, trying to seem casual.

“She woke up!” Harry said, trying to sound not so excited, though he failed and instead, just sounded awkward and happy at the same time.

“Oh my god...Cass!” Allie said, immediately going over to her big sister and hugging her.

Gordie followed, hugging her as well right after. Helena however, stayed in the doorway, watching Cassandra’s heart monitor on the screen as it was beeping a bit faster than usual. She suspiciously looked over at Harry who was standing with his hands awkwardly in his pockets. Helena squinted her eyes at him before looking over at Cassandra again who was still being hugged by Gordie.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Gordie said before he pulled out of the hug and gave Cassandra a small, pathetic peck kiss on the lips.

Harry clenched his jaw when Gordie did that and he scratched the back of his neck before his hand instinctively balled into a fist. Helena looked over at him as he did and she looked back at Cassandra who carefully snuck in a moment when Gordie wasn’t looking to wipe his kiss off her lips and her eyes briefly fell to Harry.

Luke’s girlfriend, still standing in the doorway, was awe-struck with what she saw, but also wondered if she was just overthinking all of this or if she was just too sleep-deprived to be thinking straight.

Eventually, she snapped out of her thoughts and went over to hug Cassandra too. She pulled away and looked at Cass in the hospital gown. “You don’t have to wear that. Allie and I brought some of your clothes and we were gonna put in a team effort to change you out of that dress.”

“Oh. Thanks...This is good for now.” Cassandra said, her eyes looking to Harry every now and then, wanting to ask him if he was okay after what Gordie just did.

“Harry, we brought you some new clothes too.” Helena spoke. “I hope you don’t mind that we went into your room.”

“No, no. That’s...fine...Whatever.” He continued to rub the back of his neck.

“And we have your food too.”

“Give it to Cassandra. She needs it more than me. I, um...I’m gonna go now.” He went over to the door.

Helena stopped him. “Wait. Your clothes.” She pulled them out of the bag she had on her shoulder and handed them to him.

“Thanks.” Harry got one last look at Gordie, smiling so brightly at Cassandra and his eyes fell to the girl he just kissed, his heart shattering before he left without a word.

Soon, Harry made it to his house, a bit out of breath due to the speed he had walked on the way there. The moment he stepped inside, he groaned having forgotten all of the people that were staying in his house. With an eyeroll, he ran up the stairs and went directly into his bedroom. When he saw how empty it was, he let out a breath and ran back down the stairs, going into the kitchen.

“Hey, man!” Clark said while stuffing his face with something from Harry’s fridge. “Where’ve you been, dude?” He looked at Harry in the bloody tux. “You’re still wearing that?”

“Yupp.” Harry said as he continued to look around at all the people going in and out of the kitchen.

“Bro.”

“What?” Harry said, sounding annoyed and preoccupied at the same time.

“Just tell me….Did you do it?”

“Huh? Do what?” Harry asked.

“Shoot Cassandra.”

Harry finally looked at Clark, rage building up inside of him, but he somehow managed to keep his cool. “What?! No. I fucking didn’t. Jesus!”

“Okay, okay… Just had to know.” He took another bite of his food. “Dude, what are you looking for?”

“Have you seen Kelly?” Harry asked him with a hint of irritation.

“I heard she and Will were going to the store to count food again.” Clark replied with a mouthful of food.

Harry instantly left the house, rushing to the store to find Will and Kelly there again.

“Oh. H-Hi, Harry.” Kelly said in an odd tone as she looked at him. “Why are you out of breath? Did you run here?”

“C-Cassandra woke up.” Harry blurted out, try to calm his breathing. “J-Just thought you guys should know.”

“Oh my god.” Kelly smiled. “That’s amazing!”

“Does Allie know?” Will wondered and Harry nodded, trying not to roll his eyes at him. “I-I gotta go call her.” The taller boy said and he took his phone out of his pocket before walking away from Harry and Kelly.

“Ke-Kelly.” Harry said, his breathing thankfully slowing down just a bit more. “I need to ask you something.”

“O-Okay?” She said a bit confused and worried about his panicky state.

Harry took a moment to regroup before he said the next eight words. “I need you to be my girlfriend again.”

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**A/N: LEAVE COMMENTS AND REVIEWS PLEASE!!!!!!!!**


	12. The Wrong Choice

**A/N: Hey, I’m sorry I went AWOL for a while. I’ve been busy looking for jobs and I just got cast in a new play I’m doing, plus I’m enrolled in an online college which is stressing me out and it hasn’t even started yet, so that’s fun. On top of that, I’ve had Writer’s Block and a hard time staying awake enough at night to write. But hopefully I’m back now for a while until I can finish this story. Hope you all enjoy!**

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Harry had made his way back to his house, passing by every teen that annoyed the shit out of him as he went up to his room. He looked around at the mess on the floor before finally, his eyes landed on the clothes Helena had given him at the hospital. Before he went to pay Kelly a visit at the store and he came storming in to find her some moments ago, he had just dropped his clean clothes to the floor of his room, contributing to the mess.

He sighed, too lazy and melancholy to bend over to pick them up, so he went to his dresser to get out a whole new clean outfit. To him, that took less effort than to bend over and pick up the outfit Helena had already picked out for him..

With his new pair of clothes in hand, Harry headed into his own bathroom by his closet to turn on the shower. He looked at himself in the mirror, seeing how rough he looked for the first time. He stared down at the blood on his, once perfectly white, button down shirt. His right hand slowly reached up to touch it, looking at the reflection of it. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut, hearing the sound of the gun over and over again in his head. Though closing them made it worse as he remembered the look in Cassandra’s blue eyes as she began to slip away the night before. The sound of her screams as Gordie pulled the bullets out of her rang in Harry’s ears and his hand that lightly touched the blood on his shirt squeezed it, balling the fabric into his fist. He kept his eyes closed however, thinking of the moment his lips finally touched hers and he missed them.

He knew this would happen. He knew that kissing her would cause him even more pain. Because now that’s all he wanted to do. Was hold her and kiss her. He had missed her his whole life, though she was always there. But not close enough. He needed her. But he took Kelly back instead.

He felt his eyes tearing up and he squeezed them shut even tighter, his tears rushing down his cheeks as he leaned forward, allowing his forehead to make contact with the bathroom mirror in front of him. His sobs were overpowered by the sound of the shower still running behind him and soon, he sniffled, pulling away and opening the door on the mirror to pull out one of the prescription bottles he had stolen from the pharmacy when they first arrived in New Ham.

About to open the bottle, he stared at it, remembering when he was in the pharmacy with Cassandra and wishing he had just taken her that day and run away with her to one of the unoccupied houses farther out near the edges of town. But instead he had made the wrong choice. Just like always. He always seemed to make the wrong choice. Just like he had, moments ago, asking Kelly to be with him again. A part of him had expected her to say no, but when she had hesitantly said yes….he nodded and quickly left the store, knowing he had made yet another mistake. He wanted a girlfriend, yes. But it was supposed to be Cassandra. But she had Gordie. And no one would understand.

Harry continued to stare at the pill bottle, contemplating opening it and taking enough to numb his pain before he thought of how disappointed Cassandra would be in him and instead, he threw the bottle into the sink, it bouncing out and onto the floor as he screamed, crying some more. His mind, elsewhere, had forgotten to remind him to remove his prom tuxedo before stepping into the shower and letting the water run down his face. His clothes were soaked and he was, again, reminded of Cassandra that night in the rain. The regret he felt after he’d pulled his hand away from her scar when all he wanted was to feel every inch of it...every inch of her.

Letting the steaming water soak him more, he imagined Cassandra stepping into the shower with him, to hold him from behind and comfort him the way he needed, the way he knew only she could. He missed her. He missed her more than his mother and his little sister. He wanted Cassandra and he needed Cassandra. Why did everything have to be so fucked up?

Back in the hospital, Cassandra laughed away with Allie, Gordie, and Helena. Helena, had in fact, noticed a change in Cassandra’s spirit. There was a new light in her eyes and she couldn’t help but wonder what exactly happened between her and Harry before she and the other two had stepped back into Cass’ room at the hospital. She didn’t know what it was exactly, but she knew it was something.

She thought of how red Cassandra’s face was when they walked in and how fast her heart had been beating on the hospital monitor. She noticed the way Harry stood, a bit tense near the bed and how his shirt was no longer tucked into his suit pants at all and a few of his buttons seemed to be disheveled. Not to mention his hair had been a bit messy.

Of course, Helena could guess what was going on, but with those two….it was hard to say if, perhaps Cassandra was red and her heart beat faster due to anger she could have been feeling toward Harry, had they been arguing as usual when they walked in. And Harry’s physical appearance had been deteriorating for hours, so it was possible that he looked more messy than usual because of his lack of sleep and even due to another argument with Cassandra. So the real question Helena had was….did Harry and Cassandra have an argument just before their return? Or...did she, Allie, and Gordie just walk in on them during an intimate moment? Either could have been the truth based on Helena’s observations.

But….there was more to it now. After Harry had left the hospital, Cassandra’s heartbeat had calmed down and her face returned to its natural color, though she was not the same. She seemed a bit giddy. It could have been because of Gordie’s kiss or because she realized that she had just beat death, but Helena couldn’t help but continue to question if either of those were true. Before leaving the hospital earlier, Helena had noticed that Cassandra seemed a bit depressed knowing that she had almost been murdered and she seemed a bit off once Gordie had kissed her. So she could only guess that Cassandra’s giddiness and infinite smile had to do with something or someone else. It had to be Harry.

“No, no. Remember that time we went on the field trip to that terrible community theatre play?” Gordie asked through a chuckle.

Cassandra laughed even harder than she was before while she nodded. “That theatre was falling apart. And remember how Will almost hit his head on that sign near the door?”

“Yes!” Gordie laughed again and so did Cassandra and Allie.

Helena laughed a bit, but she was too focused on how hard Cass was laughing, seeing how happy she was. She couldn’t help but smile more seeing their, usually very stressed, classmate so genuinely happy.

Just as she was about to chime in with another memory, everyone’s phones chimed instead, except for Cassandra’s. Helena pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened the text she had received, as did Gordie and Allie. Helena’s soft smile faded to almost a look of sadness.

“What is it? What?” Cassandra asked.

Allie was reading as she replied with a hint of annoyance in her tone. “Clark is throwing a party at Harry’s house tonight.” She scoffed and put her phone down.

“Why is that a bad thing?” Cassandra couldn’t help but keep smiling, hoping that maybe she would get a text from Harry personally and she’d finally be invited to one of his parties for once. Especially after what they almost just did.

“Because apparently it’s supposed to celebrate Harry and Kelly getting back together….or something stupid like that.” Allie rolled her eyes, thinking about how it was only a few nights ago that Harry seemed to be hitting on her, so they fucked. “Clark is so fucking weird. Who throws a party for that?”

Cassandra’s smile had completely vanished and that little light in her eyes that Helena had noticed was gone. “He’s...back with Kelly?” Suddenly, saying Kelly’s name made Cassandra’s bullet wounds feel like absolutely nothing and she gulped, feeling nauseous.

Now Helena knew for sure that whatever lit that burning light of giddiness inside of Cassandra had something to do with Harry and watching it burn out in a split second at the Harry and Kelly news….made Helena want to kick Harry right where it would hurt the fucking most.


	13. Something's Up

“Here. Have one.” Luke tried to hand Helena a cup of beer in Harry’s kitchen that night at the party.

Helena shook her head, putting her hand up as if to say no. Her eyes were fixated on Harry whom she could see in the living room, sitting on the couch, sulking almost, while everyone around him danced to music and drank and had a nice time. He seemed so out of it and that part of her that sneered with anger for what he did to Cassandra earlier that day wanted so badly to go over and smack the shit out of him, but another part of her took pity on him in that state. She had seen him sulk before, but this was on another level. The last time she saw him like this was when his father had passed away and he wouldn’t speak to anyone about it. After a while, Harry couldn’t take all the noise anymore, so he stood up from the couch and headed up the stairs.

“I’ll be right back.” Helena told Luke before following Harry.

He was about to close his bedroom door when Helena put her hand out, holding the door open. Harry turned to see her and he rolled his eyes. “This is my room, Hel.”

“I know. Can we please talk? It’s important.”

The boy scratched the top of his head and sat down on the edge of his bed. “No.” Helena stepped into the room and closed his door anyway. Harry sighed. “Of course.” He said sarcastically. “Come on in. My house belongs to everyone now I guess.” He scoffed.

Helena stood directly in front of him, crossing her arms over her chest. “What is going on?”

“Huh?” He leaned his hands back on the bed behind him and looked up at her with a confused expression.

“Something’s up. I can tell. And it has to do with you...and Cassandra...and Kelly.”

“And Cassandra?” He tried to sound surprised. “What about Cassandra?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Helena, I have no fucking idea what you’re on about.” He scratched his nose and leaned back on that hand again.

“You and Cassandra kissed or something.”

Harry stared at her for a moment before he let out a ridiculous laugh and shook his head. “How much have you had to drink tonight, Helena?”

“I’m not fucking playing, Harry. And I haven’t had a drop of alcohol all day. Tell me what you did now and explain to me why you’re with Kelly if Cassandra’s in the picture.”

“I don’t have to explain shit to you.” He sat up straight again. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You broke her heart. That’s what you fucking did.”

“Who? Kelly’s?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Harry. No! Cassandra’s. You broke Cassandra’s heart. The moment word got out that you were back with Kelly, she was devastated.” Helena uncrossed her arms but she moved them down to her hips now.

“Oh yeah? Did **_she_** tell you that?” Harry asked with an attitude before standing up and walking around his room, mindlessly starting to clean it just to keep his body a bit active during the conversation.

“She didn’t have to. I could see it on her face. She was so so happy when you left the hospital this afternoon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile that much in just a couple of hours. But the moment we all got the magical invites to this party celebrating your reconnection with Kelly, she wasn’t so happy anymore.”

He threw some dirty clothes into his laundry basket. “That doesn’t mean it has anything to do with me….Besides….I didn’t wanna throw this stupid fucking party in the first place. Neither of us did. Didn’t you notice that Kelly’s not even here?”

“Harry, just tell me what happened. If you don’t, she will.” She knew that was, in fact, not true. Cassandra would never admit it either. Even the young, Ms. Pressman was quite prideful and wouldn’t admit to having her heart broken. Especially not by Harry Bingham, no matter how much it hurt. But she had hoped Harry wouldn’t protest against that.

When Helena basically threatened to ask Cassandra about it, Harry froze where he was standing and after a second or two, he shook his head with annoyance and turned to look directly at Helena again. “What does it fucking matter to you anyway, huh? Are you gonna go around and gossip about it? Are you gonna pray to your fake god that everything is magically gonna be alright and that she and I can be together?”

“I just want to know what happened so maybe I can offer you some advice. Or at least just be someone you can talk to about this instead of you two holding this secret so long that eventually, it ruins you both even more than it already has.”

“It was just a kiss, alright? And it didn’t ruin anything.” He started to clean up again. “It didn’t even mean anything.”

“Obviously not, if you’re back with Kelly...Sooo...Cassandra kissed you?” Helena assumed based off of the way Harry spoke about it. He didn’t reply as he shoved some clothes into his closet. “Why would she do that though unless she was under the impression that the door was open for her to?”

“I don’t know, alright? She can be quite delusional sometimes.” He was glad to have his back to her so she couldn’t see his face as he lied. “I never told her to kiss me. You know I would never do that. Everyone does.”

“Harry, you need to at least talk to her about this. Maybe when she was shot and you were holding her...she started to look at you as some type of hero. Maybe she fell for you while she was dying. You gotta let her down gently.” She waited for him to say something else but he didn’t as he kept cleaning. “She was almost just murdered, Harry. Can’t you at least have some sympathy and go tell her that you don’t like her back? **_Nicely?”_** She waited for a response again, but still did not receive one. “You really should have seen how heartbroken she was when she heard about you and Kelly. It almost made **_me_** cry.”

Harry froze in place again, feeling his own heart break and he kept his back to her as he finally replied. “If I go, will you please just never bring this up again and leave my room _**now?**_”

Helena briefly smiled before holding a straight face again as she answered. “I promise.”

He looked down at his feet, his back still to her. “I’ll leave in a couple minutes.”

“Good.” She said before smiling again and she quickly left before he could change his mind, going back down to stand with Luke in the kitchen and she took his beer from him, having a sip, smirking to herself because she was proud that she may have gotten Harry Bingham to go do something nice for once.

A few moments later, she saw him descend the stairs and head for the door with his car keys.

Cassandra laid in her hospital bed, playing a few games on her phone for a while before she got bored and set it down on the stand beside the bed. She leaned her head back against the pillow and sighed. When she was about to press the button to lay the bed back so she could try to sleep, she heard a noise down the hall outside her door. Her heart began to pound and she looked around to see if there was anything near her that she could use as a weapon and she noticed that there was a needle on one of the wheeled tables nearby, but it was too far for her to reach.

She quickly took a few deep breaths before sitting herself up all the way and she put her feet over to the side of the bed, ignoring the pain in her stomach from the bullet wounds. She looked toward the door and heard footsteps getting closer and closer to her room and she internally panicked, quickly hopping down from the bed and she winced in pain. Reaching for the needle, she realized she was still too far away, but one more step and her I.V. would be ripped out. She decided to try and reach with only her arm, but the pain in her stitches was too great and she let out a wince of pain, falling back a little and she turned just on time to grab the bed beside her with both of her hands.

“Cassandra!” Harry rushed into the room, going to her to hold her up. “What are you doing? Why are you up?” He asked, lifting her and sitting her back down onto the bed.

“I thought you were the-” She took in a deep breath to speak through the pain, holding back tears. “...-the shooter coming back to try and kill me.” She held his shoulders until she was perfectly balanced back on the bed. “I was going to try and get that needle to defend myself if I could.” She groaned at the pain. “But I couldn’t reach.” She let out a breath and closed her eyes, her hands still on Harry’s shoulders.

Harry let out a breath of his own when he heard the hint of fear in her voice that he’d be the shooter and he unintentionally whispered. “I shouldn’t have left you.” Cassandra’s eyes opened as he said that and she let go of him, managing to turn on the bed herself so she could get under the covers again without his help. “Cassandra, let me explain.”

“Explain what, Harry?” She responded without even looking at him. She fiddled with her fingers in her lap, looking at them instead. “Explain why you almost had sex with me and then went to fuck your ex girlfriend instead?”

“I didn’t fuck her, Cassandra.” He brushed the blonde’s hair behind her ear and tried to cup her face to make her look at him, but she refused and pulled her head away. He sighed, letting go of her cheek and he sadly looked down. “I told you I would end up hurting you.” When she remained unresponsive, he sighed again and turned away from the bed, walking over to the sink at the far end of the room where he had found the hospital gowns earlier. There was a doctor’s textbook sitting on it and he looked at the cover, opening it and looking at the first few pages before closing it again.

After a minute or so, he could hear Cassandra struggling behind him and he turned to see her attempting to take out her I.V. “Hey, hey. Cassandra, what are you doing?” He asked, going over to the bed again.

“I’m hungry.” She said, successfully pulling out the I.V. and sitting up again.

“So? I’ll get something for you. Just sit...Cass, I don’t know how to put that I.V. back in.” Harry tried to push her back to stay on the bed.

“Then don’t put it back in. Just let me walk around! Please?! I’ll go crazy sitting in this bed forever.” She gave him a look of both desperation and commandment and he didn’t know what it was about that look, but it worked on him and he backed off, letting her get down from the bed. “I’m going to the cafeteria. They have some good jello and pudding.”

Cassandra began to slowly make her way to the door and Harry watched her walk. It was only now that he realized she was wearing a baby blue dress that stopped just above her knees. It almost looked like it was made of denim, though it was not, and the straps were quite thin and tied together up on her shoulders with a light bow that could easily be untied. He quickly shook that thought out of his head and looked down at the white socks she had on with pink polka dots and he smiled to himself before following her out of the room and to the cafeteria.


	14. The Cold

Once the two teens had made it into the cafeteria, Cassandra led Harry right over to one of the lunch lines, going behind it and opening the little short fridge on the floor, pulling out two cups of jello. “Want blue or green?” She asked him.

Harry looked at both jello cups before shaking his head. “Neither. I’m not much of a jello person.”

“Okay.” She leaned over, picking out two cups of pudding. “Chocolate or vanilla?”

“Which do **_you_** want?” He asked.

Cass looked at him for a bit before pulling the chocolate pudding closer to her chest, indicating she wanted that one. Harry held a hint of a smile and he kindly took the vanilla from her. Their fingers brushed against each other and Cassandra lost her breath, feeling a jump in her heart as they did. Harry felt a knot in his stomach and a bit of a spark though he was sure she didn’t feel one as well, so he just took it and went to sit at a table, grabbing a plastic spork on the way.

Cassandra cleared her throat and then did the same, going over to sit across from him. It was quiet as they both opened their puddings and began to eat them. Cassandra’s was gone pretty quickly and she set the cup down on the table, noticing how slowly he ate his. “I’m sorry. I should have let you have the chocolate.”

“No, no. It’s fine. Really.” Harry said as he took another bite of the vanilla, only halfway done with it at this point.

Cassandra studied the way he ate before she suddenly spoke. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” He wondered.

“Whatever it is that makes you….” She was about to say the word ‘sad,’ but she didn’t want to upset him, so instead she said, “...drink.”

“Nope.” He answered shortly.

“Have you spoken to **_anyone_** about how you feel? Your mom maybe?” Cass asked in a soft tone, tilting her head to the side.

He scoffed a little with a ridiculous chuckle. “No.”

“Why not? Are you afraid?”

“No. I just don’t wanna talk about it.” He spoke in a tone that almost sounded as though he was bored.

“But you can’t keep it bottled up. It’s really not good for you.” She brushed her hair behind her ear.

“It’s fine, Cassandra.”

“No, it’s not, Harry. I’m worried about you. I always have been.” She admitted.

“Don’t be. It’s fine. And now that we’re in this place….wherever that is….it really doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It does if it’s still hurting you, Harry.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” Cassandra sighed and looked down at the hem of her dress, beginning to play with it. “Sigh as much as you want. I’m not gonna talk about...my feelings.” He said the last two words as if they disgusted him and he took another small bite of the pudding.

She looked down at the floor for a bit in silence, just thinking little thoughts to herself before she slowly stood up and walked around the table to stand behind Harry in his chair. Her hands slowly moved to his shoulders and she began to rub them, hoping it could relax him or comfort him, even just a bit. Harry closed his eyes and gulped, telling himself not to enjoy it too much.  
“Whatever it is, Harry….you need to relax and let it go. And don’t blame yourself for every little thing.”

He shook his head with a scoff. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about, Cassandra.”

“Harry.” She moved her hands up to his neck, massaging it a little. “I’m just trying to help you and be a friend. Cause right now, you need it.”

“No!” He quickly stood up and turned around to face her, taking a step away. “You don’t know shit, _alright?!_ You can’t just go around _helping_ everybody because you feel entitled to know everything! You’re not Student Council president anymore!” He raised his voice.

Cass raised hers as well. “Would you **_please_** stop bringing that up every second?! That has nothing to do with this!”

“Then stop pretending to know what I need!! Because you don’t know anything about me!!”

Cassandra shook her head with frustration and when she spoke next, her voice was a bit calmer though it came with an attitude. “It’s not like I don’t try, Harry.” She rolled her eyes and looked away from him for a second before raising her voice again. “You won't talk to me! And all because of some stupid high school election that doesn't even matter anymore!”

“I just don’t want to talk!......To anybody! How many times do I have to tell you?!” He asked with frustration.

“Fine! I'll just stop being the only one here who gives a shit about you!” She shouted.

“Thank you!” He shouted back. “That’s all I want!”

The blonde shook her head and rolled her eyes, looking up at the ceiling with her hands on her hips before she went back to sit in her chair. She rested her elbow on the table and placed the side of her head in her hand, staring down at the half eaten cup of pudding before she suddenly spoke. “Let me guess...you’re not much of a pudding person either?”

Harry looked at her and he was a bit shocked at how fast she could calm down. “No, I do like it sometimes. I just have to be in the mood for it though.” He admitted.

“What **_are_** you in the mood for?” She asked, trying not to roll her eyes.

“Hmm...I wonder if they had any ice cream here.” Harry looked toward the back kitchen and headed for the door to it, pushing it open and going inside.

“No. Harry, wait.” Cass stood up and quickly followed behind him, looking around the large kitchen as they entered it. “We shouldn’t be in here.”

“It’s not like anyone’s gonna catch us.” Harry pointed out. “They probably have a ton of food back here, right? We should see. This could help with your **_rations_**.” He said the last word with a hint of annoyance.

Cassandra couldn’t hold back her own annoyance anymore and she finally let herself roll her eyes. “Unless...during the raids that night of the car fire...someone already broke in and took everything.” She pointed out that possibility, hoping it wasn’t true.

“If they did, don’t you think they would’ve taken all of this?” Harry said with a smirk as he opened the big walk in freezer without even looking into it as he watched Cassandra’s face, secretly hoping his assumption was right and that there was food inside it.

“Harry, there’s nothing in there.” Cassandra said in a nonchalant tone. The boy turned his head to see that she had lied and the blonde girl laughed. “Gotcha.” She playfully, but gently, smacked his stomach and stepped inside.

“Any ice cream?” Harry asked, holding the freezer door open.

Cass looked around the metal shelves, reading labels on different boxes of food in there. She made mental notes of everything it had in case one day they needed to take some of the food from there for the rest of the town. “Hmmmm…” She kept reading everything. “I’m not seeing any.”

“What about up there?” He pointed to the highest shelf in the back corner of the freezer.

Cassandra went over to stand near it and looked up at the boxes but they were too high up and she couldn’t read the labels covered in frost. She began to shiver as she stepped up on the bottom shelf, trying to reach up to the top one, but failed. “It’s too high, I can’t see it.”

“Wait there, I’ll get a stool or something for you to stand on.” Before Cassandra could say anything, Harry stepped away from the freezer door, going out into the cafeteria to find something tall for her.

“No!” The girl shouted once the heavy freezer door slammed shut and she ran to it, trying to push it open, but failing. Her breathing grew irregular and her heart pounded against the inside of her chest as if begging to get out, just as she was. “Harry!? Harry!” She curled her hands into fists, banging them against the door, screaming his name as her body began to grow weaker due to the drop in temperature and the sudden sobs that escaped her throat.

She could feel her tears on the verge of freezing against her cheeks, threatening to crystalize into ice. The cold air against her skin hurt so much that it burned. She tried again with all her might to push the door open, still shouting for Harry to come back as her feet slipped against the icy floors of the freezer. “Let me out! Let me out!” Her body began to give up as it shook too much to give her the strength she needed to push against the heavy door. The cold began to seep through even the parts of her that were clothed and her bullet wound stitches began to sting in the freezing atmosphere.

Suddenly, the door opened and Cassandra threw herself onto Harry, hugging him tight as he dropped the chair in his hand, putting his arms up at his sides, shocked at the embrace. “W-Whoa! I said I was coming back.” He felt how tightly she held him and did his best to get a look at her face, but she nuzzled it into the crook of his neck. As she did that, his butterflies went crazy and he gulped, slowly putting his arms around her to feel her body shaking from both cold and fear._ “Shit.”_ He whispered to himself. “Are you okay?” He said out loud, holding her a bit tighter, a part of him wishing this hug would never end.

_“I’m fine.”_ Cass responded in a frail voice.

“Are you sure?” He wondered, hearing the small crack in the girl’s throat. She couldn’t answer him as she began to cry, sobbing against the collar of his light blue button down shirt. Harry let out a sad breath, feeling a pain in his own chest as he listened to her sobs and he held her tighter to him. “C-Cass, what’s wrong?” He asked after a while, but she never replied to him.

Soon, she pulled out of the hug and turned around, slamming the freezer door shut and backing away from it with both of her hands over her stomach. Harry watched her look at the door with so much fear and his heart sank.

The boy looked at the scared girl beside him and he gently spoke her name. “Cassandra?”

She didn’t say a word as she just kept her eyes on the freezer door as if reliving something and her left hand fell to her side, grabbing Harry’s hand and squeezing it. Her right hand simultaneously moved up to hold her chest as she took in a deep breath and slowly let it out to calm her breathing.

“D-Do you want to go back to your room?” Harry asked, squeezing her hand back.

The blonde slowly nodded and Harry laced their fingers together before leading her out of the kitchen and cafeteria, bringing her back to the safety and comfort of her room in the hospital.


	15. Let Me Show You

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNING→ Mentions of physical abuse/torture**

**Don’t worry, it’s not too graphic and it is NOT sexual abuse**

* * *

“Sit down.” Harry gently said when they made it back to Cassandra’s room in the hospital and he lifted her up to help her sit back down on the side of the bed, his hands lingering on her hips for a moment before he pulled them away and sat beside her. It was silent for a bit as Cass just stared at the floor and soon, she mumbled something to herself. “What?” Harry asked when he couldn’t understand her.

_“It was Campbell.”_ She repeated a bit louder.

“W-What was Campbell?” Harry asked, already feeling his body temperature rising.

“He...He, um…” The blonde spoke with almost no emotion as she kept staring at the floor. Harry noticed how whatever it was affected her so he put his hand over hers in between them on the bed, hoping to comfort her. Cassandra looked down at their hands and very briefly smiled to herself as she calmed down a little and looked up into Harry’s eyes. “You know those, um...those little freezer coolers people have in their basements?” Harry bit his lip and nodded, already hating where this was going. “When I was younger...my family went over to the Eliotts’ house all the time. And because of the age thing, Sam always spent more time with Allie….and I got stuck with Campbell. For some reason, he said that Allie wasn't as fun as I was. One day he said it was because he liked it when I screamed. Allie always fought back and he didn’t find that as fun, so he liked me. I was always too weak to fight back, because of my heart...But there were times….I had no choice….I had to fight back. Even if it hurt more than anything.” She looked down at the floor again, unable to look him in the eye as she continued. “I still have no idea how long I was in that freezer before he finally let me out. It felt like hours. Though it probably wasn’t.”

Harry clenched his jaw, filling with rage though he was able to stay calm for her. “Cassandra, I’m so sorry. I will make sure he pays for what he did.”

She shook her head no, still looking down. “I tried to tell someone, but he said that if I ever did, he would do something even worse to Allie.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Harry said, biting the inside of his cheek. “Does Allie know everything?”

She shook her head no again. “No. She knows some stuff, but not everything.”

“Maybe you should tell her.” He didn’t even think before brushing some of Cassandra’s hair out of her face.

“No. There are things that she never needs to know.” She answered sternly.

“Like what?”

“Um…” She cleared her throat and looked down at her hands in her lap, fiddling with her fingers. “O-one time we were up in his room and Sam and Allie were outside jumping on the trampoline. I was brushing my doll's hair and he was yelling at some video game he was playing until he got bored.”

It was quiet for a moment as Harry waited for her to continue, seeing the red in her face. “And then what, Cassandra?” He put his arm around her shoulders, fiddling with a strand of her hair.

Cass closed her eyes and whined while she spoke. _“Please don’t tell anyone, Harry!”_ Her voice was frail and desperate. “It’s so humiliating.”

“I won’t, I promise.” He said genuinely, studying the side of her face, feeling his heart beat faster while he did.

“He...He made me…” Cassandra covered her face with both of her hands as it turned even more red and she mumbled, “...drink out of his toilet.” She let out a shaky breath, feeling nauseous at the memory. Harry stopped playing with her hair, in complete shock at what he had just heard. Cass brought her hands down from her face, which was a bright shade of red now as well as her eyes as she fought back tears. “When I refused, he threatened to push me out the window, but I said I didn’t believe him and he proved me wrong.”

“Wait, what the fuck? Did he actually push you out the-”

“Almost...He shoved my head out of it and held me so I was dangling out of it from the waist up. I tried to scream for help...but Allie had gone inside where our parents were listening to loud music and Sam couldn’t hear me sitting on the trampoline.” She sighed, gulping a little and feeling even more nauseous than before. “So I told him I’d do whatever he wanted and he pulled me back in and made me drink the toilet water.”

“That’s so fucking fucked up! Cassandra, I am so sorry.” Harry said genuinely.

She softly sighed. “Sometimes I still have nightmares that I’m locked inside that freezer again.”

The boy closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Cassandra’s temple while he slowly rubbed circles on her back. Cass closed her own eyes while he did that, trying not to cry as she just focused on everything he did. His hand rubbing her back really seemed to relax her and she softly hummed. The sound caused Harry to look at her again, studying every inch of her face, his butterflies going insane and he whispered, _“He won’t hurt you ever again.”_ His words caused the blonde to open her eyes and she turned her head to look at him, her eyes instantly getting lost in his. _“I promise._” He spoke with a believable tone and he noticed when Cassandra’s eyes fell to his lips.

Harry’s hand on her back moved to softly cup her cheek, caressing it with his thumb before he leaned in and softly kissed her. She closed her eyes, gently inhaling as their lips touched and she kissed him back, putting her hand over his on her cheek.

The kiss was so gentle and loving that Cassandra couldn’t hold back her tears anymore and a few slowly slid down her cheeks, one landing on Harry’s hand and he whispered against her lips. _“I’m so sorry he did that to you, Cassandra.”_ He kissed her again._ “It’ll all be okay. I promise.”_ He looked into her eyes as if to reassure her.

_“Kiss me again.”_ She said as she slowly turned her body to face him more.

Harry smiled softly before kissing her once more just like she wanted. When he obeyed her, Cassandra laid back down on the pillow, pulling Harry with her so he hovered over her, never breaking the kiss as they both hummed. Soon, both of her hands slid underneath his shirt, feeling his bare skin while she grazed her fingers up and down his abdomen. She did that for a while before beginning to unbutton his shirt.

_“C-Cass?”_ Harry whispered, kissing her between sentences. _“A-Are you sure?”_ He kissed her again while her nimble fingers continued to undo his buttons.

_“Mhm.”_ She hummed into the kiss.

_“How long’s it been?”_ He wondered out loud. _“Since you and that Yale guy?”_

_“Hmm...Since August….But he doesn’t really count.”_ She replied, her fingers moving to the last button on Harry’s shirt.

_“We-”_ He began to speak, but kissed her again instead. _“We don’t have to do this yet.”_

_“But I’m ready.”_ She slid her hands up and down his abdomen again.

_“Are you sure?”_ He asked her.

She smiled at him and pushed his shirt off of his shoulders as her answer. Harry chuckled and kissed her again with a hum before Cassandra moved her hands to undo his belt. His breathing grew heavy in anticipation for what was about to happen and his heart raced. His head spun so much that he hadn’t noticed Cassandra pushing off his jeans already.

Harry softly chuckled as they fell to the floor and he laid there, hovering over her in nothing but his boxers. “Jesus, you’re impatient.”

Cassandra stopped kissing him and looked into his eyes, blushing. “I-I’m sorry. I still don’t really know what I’m doing.”

Harry gently smiled at her, brushing her hair off of her forehead. _“Let me show you.”_

The blonde’s heart jumped when he said that and she smiled, her eyes sparkling as she nodded. _“Okay.”_

* * *

**A/N: Ooooo, now we’re getting to the good parts!!!!**

**HEY READERS, do we want detailed smut??? Yes or no?**

**COMMENT with your answer!**


	16. Their First Time

Harry slowly slid his hands up and down Cassandra’s sides as he smiled softly at her. “Let’s just take it a little slower.”

The blonde beamed, grinning from ear to ear, already enjoying this a lot more than when she was with that guy visiting Yale. She reached up, running her fingers through Harry’s hair, smiling even more when the boy hummed.

Harry kept his eyes on her, moving his right hand down to hold her thigh, slowly caressing it under her dress. After he did that for a while, he moved his hand down to her knee, gently pulling it up, hiking her thigh up onto his hip and he held it there as he went in for another soft kiss. Cassandra closed her eyes, tilting her head in the kiss as her heart skipped a beat, loving the way he touched her. She wondered how it was Harry Bingham making her feel like this. Never in a million years did she expect him to be so kind and respectful when touching her. She had hoped and dreamed he would since childhood, but she always thought that in reality...he would be rough with her. Though she suspected she wouldn’t mind that either. But this was better. So much better. And God, the things she felt in her body just from a simple touch of his hand!

After deepening the kiss a bit, Harry trailed light peck kisses across her cheek, down her jawline, and eventually to her neck, finding the blonde’s sweet spot and lightly sucking at the soft skin upon it. Soon, Cassandra felt goosebumps rise to the surface of her skin, all over her body and she tilted her head to give him more access to the area the boy was focused on. She allowed a soft gasp to escape her throat, arching her back slightly, her body pressing more against his. She let her fingers get a bit tangled in his hair and she bit her lip to stop herself from moaning which she so desperately needed to do. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes, massaging his hair before very quietly humming at the feeling he gave her.

Soon, he began to trail more peck kisses down her neck and to her shoulder, lightly pushing her spaghetti strap down to her bicep before giving her shoulder a tiny love bite. The girl let out a small yelp at the feeling followed by a light chuckle and another hum. Harry looked at her with a soft smile to see how she was doing. Her eyes were still closed and her lips were curled into a relaxed smile which caused Harry’s smile to grow, glad to see that he didn’t hurt her with the bite and he continued to kiss down her shoulder then back up and over to her collarbone, giving her another small bite. Cass softly gasped again and bit her lip with another hum, her arousal for him growing between her legs.

Harry looked up at her once more and he gently kissed underneath her chin before moving more down the bed, gently kissing the inside of Cassandra’s knee. He touched the tip of his tongue to her skin there and slowly slid it up to her inner thigh. The blonde let out a shaky breath at the feeling, though her smile never went away. Harry watched her expression as he slid both hands underneath her dress and he took hold of the hem of her underwear. “Tell me to stop if you’re uncomfortable, okay?” He gently whispered and when she nodded, he began to slowly remove her panties from under the dress. She lifted her hips to help him a bit, smiling more this time to show her teeth, the wetness between her legs growing to be almost unbearable.

Once Harry pulled her underwear all the way off, he set them aside on the bed and watched her face again as he slid his hands up under the dress to hold her bare hips, squeezing them before gently pulling her closer to him and he hiked her dress up a bit. Leaning over, he began to kiss and bite a little at her inner thighs before sliding his tongue closer and closer to her core, his hot breath against her skin causing her eyes to open and she looked up at the ceiling, her breathing already changing in anticipation.

The boy’s grip on her hips tightened and just before he could touch her sensitive spot with his tongue, the girl spoke. “H-Harry? No one’s ever-” She bit her lip, her butterflies going insane.

He lifted his head from under her dress and looked at her. Cass looked down into his eyes, gulping a little. “Do you want me to stop?” Harry asked in a sweet voice she’d never heard before.

Cassandra thought for a second before she nodded. “Y-Yes, please. I’m sorry.”

Harry pushed her dress back down and moved back up to hover over her, brushing her hair behind her ear. “Don’t be sorry. I told you to stop me if you were uncomfortable.” He gently smiled when he saw her cheeks turn red. “We can stop now if you want.”

“No. No. Please? I still want to...Just...Not that, okay?” She bit her lip, hoping Harry wouldn’t be upset that she wouldn’t let him go down on her, but she wasn’t ready for **_anyone_** to do that.

“Anything you want.” He smiled softly, moving her bangs off her forehead.

She smiled back at him and slid a hand up and down his left arm, which he used to hold himself up over her. “I want you to kiss me again.” She almost sounded demanding, which wasn’t new to Harry at all.

He softly chuckled at the familiarity of her demanding tone and kissed her again like she wanted, this time a bit more intensely. Cass let out a breath into the kiss, moving her free hand to his jawline while the other squeezed his arm. The kiss grew hotter and more steamy as they both began to run out of air, but they didn’t mind, never breaking it as their tongues battled for dominance.

Soon, Cassandra whimpered, the ache between her legs worse than ever as she needed him and she hiked her leg up to Harry’s hip again, unintentionally arching her back once again as if her body begged him for more.

As he felt the way her body gravitated towards his, he moved a hand down between them under her dress, sliding a finger through her folds, feeling how wet she was and he hummed into her mouth. He moved his finger to find her clit, circling it gently while paying close attention to her reaction to his touch.

She softly gasped, never having felt that before. At least not from someone else. The boy at Yale certainly must have not known what he was doing, because he never once touched her most sensitive area and she was shocked at how much better it felt when it wasn’t her doing it herself. Even she didn’t think she had touched herself correctly in the past once she felt Harry do it and she let out her first, small moan, breaking the kiss. Her hand on his jawline moved to hold the back of his neck and she looked into Harry’s eyes as he increased the pressure and speed at which he touched her. He smiled sweetly at her, never breaking their eye contact as the girl’s breathing grew heavy and she rolled her hips into his hand, letting out a shaky whimper, her expression showing just how much pleasure he gave her already.

He felt his heart pounding, seeing her look at him like that and his butterflies fluttered intensely in his stomach. _“Does that feel good, Cassandra?”_ He intended on asking in a normal tone, but unintentionally whispered as he was lost in her eyes.

The girl let out a few short breaths and she nodded, speaking in a higher pitched tone than intended. _“Y-Yes, Harry.”_ She let out a soft moan, already feeling her climax approaching.

Harry gulped when he heard her say his name in that way and he rubbed faster for her, causing her to moan a little louder than before and she blushed immediately after. Harry let out a breath. “S-So beautiful.” He didn’t mean to say it out loud, but it slipped and Cassandra barely heard him as she hit her high, letting out a long, but quiet moan, her body jolting with pleasure. Harry smiled again as he moved his fingers through her folds to feel her cum on them and he felt himself growing aroused at the sight of her.

When she calmed down from her high, Harry pulled his fingers away from her core, moving his hand to grab hold of his member and he slid the tip of it through her wet folds. Cassandra looked up at him, licking her lips as she tried to calm her breathing and she nodded at him. “I’m ready, Harry.” She brightly smiled after saying that, waiting for him to finally push into her, already needing another climax from him.

Harry’s eyes sparkled a little and he moved himself at her entrance before slowly pushing into her, stopping every now and then to allow her to adjust to his size. She lightly gasped everytime he moved into her again, but she always hummed right after, still smiling and closing her eyes to focus on how he felt inside her.

Once he had pushed all the way into her, he stayed still, waiting for her to be ready for him to move as his own breathing grew heavy just by feeling her tightness around him, but he didn’t say anything, not wanting to make her uncomfortable again. Soon, she began to roll her hips, begging him to begin and he smiled, doing as he was “told.”

He began to move in and out of her at a slow pace, brushing her bangs off her forehead again and they looked into each other’s eyes, softly moaning at different times or sometimes together. Cassandra’s arms wrapped around Harry’s neck and she played with his hair every now and then, her hot breath hitting his lips every time he pushed back into her. She moaned and unintentionally pulled his hair, causing Harry to moan as well. _“F-Fuck!”_ Harry whispered after.

_“I-I’m sorry.”_ Cass apologized before moaning sensually.

Harry smiled softly. _“Don’t be.”_

They both moaned again and Cassandra’s walls clenched around him, causing him to let out a breath. _“D-Did I hurt you?”_ The girl asked, her face turning red again.

_“No, Cassandra. It feels good._” His butterflies fluttered again at how she reacted to everything and he couldn’t help but gently kiss her again.

She moaned into his mouth, making the kiss hotter as she bucked her hips more. _“F-Faster.”_ She whispered against his lips, massaging his hair again. Harry obeyed, picking up his pace a little, moaning more himself. _“O-Oh my god.”_ Cass whined at the feeling just as Harry moved to kiss her collarbone, humming against her skin. She moaned everytime he pushed back into her, moving one hand to his shoulder as the other stayed in his hair. _“H-Harry!”_ She moaned his name, causing him to slightly bite her collarbone and she yelped a little, followed by another moan.

The faster he went, the more he felt himself needing his release and he moved his hand to rub her clit again while still moving in and out of her, pulling away to look at her expression. The moment he touched her most sensitive spot, Cassandra’s lips parted more and her eyes shot open at the feeling of both pleasures at the same time. She moaned even louder than before with a small gasp. _“Yes!”_ Her body shook at the new sensation. _“Yes, Harry! Oh my god!”_ Her face turned red at how loud she was being and she dug her nails into his shoulder while the hand that was in his hair moved to cover her own mouth and she moaned against her hand.

Harry hissed at the feeling of her nails digging into his shoulder and he groaned watching her cover her mouth. _“Sh-Shit!”_ He whispered before moaning again and he gently took her hand, moving it away from her mouth. _“Y-You don’t have to be shy with me.”_ He let out a breath. _“Your moans are so beautiful.”_ He laced their fingers together and placed her hand up on the pillow next to her head, holding it as he went faster._ “Fuck!”_

Cassandra’s eyes squeezed shut at the pleasure and she let out a loud, high pitched moan that almost sounded like a scream, suddenly saying his name over and over again. _“H-Harry! Harry, I’m gonna-”_ She was interrupted by another moan and suddenly, her climax hit her hard as she released all over his twitching member.

_“Oh, fuck!”_ Harry groaned, quickly pulling out of her, just on time before he came all over the bed sheets between her legs, saying her name.

Cass squeezed his hand up by her head watching his expression as she continued to moan, her climax calming down a little and they both hummed together just before she grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him down to kiss him again, both of them out of breath.

They hummed into each other’s mouths before Harry collapsed onto the bed next to her, looking up at the ceiling as he tried to catch his breath. “H-How’s your heart?” He asked the moment he could speak again.

She smiled and looked at him beside her. “It’s good.”

“Good.” He said seriously before turning his head to look at her too and they both smiled at each other.

“That was….” Cassandra began, too shy to finish her sentence. “I’ve never finished before.” Harry gently grabbed her hand and held it on the bed between them. “It feels amazing.”

Harry grinned as she said that. “Good. I’m glad it was good for you.”

“It really was.” She smiled more at him, squeezing his hand. “Was it for you? I hope I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You did nothing wrong at all, Cass.” He squeezed her hand back. “I loved it.” He said truthfully.

Cassandra looked back up at the ceiling, her smile growing even more, if at all possible, and Harry did the same as they laid there, hand in hand, the happiest they’ve ever felt in a long, long time.


	17. After

“I wish we could stay like this forever.” Cassandra softly whispered, her eyes growing a bit heavy as she started to fall asleep.

Harry squeezed her hand as she said that. “Yeah...Yeah, me too.” He turned over onto his side to face her, studying her beauty as she just laid there, looking up at the ceiling still. His butterflies went crazy as he thought about what they just did and how much he has wanted this for years. His free hand reached over, caressing her stomach. “I really like you in this dress.” He smiled softly.

“Yeah?” She asked, smiling brightly. “Thank you.”

He smiled more to himself again and kept caressing her stomach before she giggled. “What?” Harry asked.

Cassandra cleared her throat. “Nothing. I’m just very ticklish.”

“I remember.” He grinned, recalling the time in middle school when they were close friends and he had tickled her during a class project about the weight of bird feathers versus the weight of a piece of paper.

“Noooo. You don’t remember anything.” Cass tried to protest with another giggle.

“Oh, yes, I do.” He chuckled, tickling her weakest spot right under her left rib.

She squirmed a little, pulling away with a soft laugh. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” She lied, trying to hide her smile which grew upon her face anyway.

“Mhm.” He said, not believing her and he chuckled before leaning over to softly kiss her on the cheek before laying on his back again, looking back up at the ceiling.

Cassandra turned her head to look at him with a smile and she inched closer to him, snuggling up against him, laying her head on his chest. Harry placed his arm around her, pulling her closer to him as his hand mindlessly slid up and down her shoulder. Cass hummed before she suddenly gasped. “Wait! What about Kelly?”

“Don’t worry about her.”

“But you’re back together. Oh, god! I made you cheat.” Cassandra’s face turned red and she felt a horrible knot in her stomach.

“Hey, you didn’t make me do anything, first of all. And second of all...She’s not really my girlfriend.”

“W-What? She’s not?”

“No. She never really has been. I mean…we dated in tenth grade for about a week and then we realized it was too weird, but then our parents kept inviting the other over for dinner and they seemed so into us being together, so we just started to fake it. Then once everyone at school started to assume we were a real thing….it just stuck.”

“But you’ve kissed and Will said he’s walked in on you-”

“The kisses in public were fake and sure, every now and then we would fuck...but it was never a real thing.”

“Well...what about now? What about you two ‘getting back together?’”

“Just a cover.” He admitted.

“A cover for what?”

“Well...uh...I’ll tell you some other time...But trust me...This was not me cheating. Okay?”

Cass laid there for a moment, just thinking and trying to see if she could figure out what the cover was for herself, but once she couldn’t think of anything, she gave up and agreed. “Okay.” She slightly nodded and let her mind wander off into space as she smiled to herself, glad that he was technically available to be all hers if he wanted. “Sooo….what are we to everyone else then?”

“I-” He started to speak, but stopped to think. “I don’t know.”

“Do we still hate each other?” She asked, a bit sad.

“F-For now. Yeah...We do. Around them.”

She nodded again. “That might be the safest thing right now….We know what happened when Romeo and Juliet tried to bring both sides together.” She chuckled a little. “I can only imagine how your football friends would react to this….They’d probably think of it as some joke you pulled on me.” She looked at him as best as she could. “Which it isn’t, right?”

Harry looked at her as well and instead of speaking, he took her chin between two of his fingers and gave her the sweetest, most gentle kiss, closing his eyes until she could tell that this was definitely no joke.

When they broke the kiss, they both smiled sweetly at each other, Cassandra’s eyes sparkling. “Thank you for protecting me, Harry.”

“Protecting you?” He asked, a bit confused.

“Mhm.” She softly yawned, resting her head against his chest again. “On prom night and every time you’ve stayed here with me.”

He felt his butterflies getting stronger and he gulped a little, tightening his arm around her as he heard her let out a hum of exhaustion. “Hey. Get some sleep.” He spoke softly.

“Mmm...Will you sleep too, Harry?” She wondered, already half asleep, but she remembered him barely eating or sleeping when she first got shot, so she needed to make sure he finally would now that she was getting better.

“Yes. I will, Cassandra. I promise.” He said, playing with a strand of her hair.

The girl’s eyes began to close and she smiled brightly as he said that. Her fingers traced light patterns on Harry’s chest as she started to drift off to sleep, humming again and soon, her fingers stopped, indicating that she had finally fallen into a deep sleep.

Harry smiled to himself once he noticed she had drifted off and he carefully, so as not to wake her, pulled the blanket over the both of them before closing his eyes and falling asleep as well.

In the middle of the night, Cassandra subconsciously wrapped a leg around his waist, bringing herself closer to him in her sleep and his own subconscious reciprocated by placing a hand on her thigh to hold her leg there for comfort. The blonde nuzzled her face into the boy’s neck, her breath hitting his skin and he whispered her name in his sleep, pulling her closer if at all possible.

Once the sun had inched its way up, even just a bit, Cassandra startled awake with a small gasp from the nightmare she had about being shot, shoved into a freezer, and left for dead. Her body shook at the thought of it but once her eyes fell to Harry beside her and she felt their closeness, her fear went away and she felt a sense of safety and comfort wash over her. She smiled to herself and hummed before putting an arm fully over him, closing her eyes again until she fell back to sleep.

“Rise and shine, sleepy heads.” A familiar voice rang out in the room hours later as Cassandra’s eyes slowly blinked. The blonde stayed cuddled up to Harry as she lifted her head a bit to see Helena Wu, standing beside the hospital bed with her arms folded over her chest and a raised eyebrow. She held a hint of a smile as she looked down at the couple in the hospital bed so close their bodies could technically be one now. She couldn’t help but smirk a little as she whispered, _“Cassandra, what is going on here?”_

_“Shhhhh!”_ Cass responded, biting her lip through a smile.

_“You and **Harry?**!”_ Helena whispered in shock.

_“Just give me five more minutes.”_ Harry mumbled in his sleep.

Both girls giggled and covered their mouths as the boy turned onto his side, facing Cassandra and humming. Cass looked at him for a moment, her heart melting at the sight of his adorable face as he slept. She bit her lip briefly before looking back up at Helena. _“No one will understand...Don’t say anything, okay?”_

Helena nodded, imitating the gesture of zipping her mouth shut and throwing away the key.

Only a minute or so after, Harry’s eyes slowly opened, squinting a little, clearly bothered by the sunlight shining in on them through the windows.

“Hey there.” Cassandra said, smiling at him.

Harry beamed, opening his eyes more to see her beautiful face. “Hey there.” He repeated, his own smile growing.

“How did you sleep?” She wondered, brushing her fingers through his hair.

“I slept great.” He hummed. “You?”

“I had a bad dream...but I felt safe with you here.” She grinned.

He frowned right away. “What happened in it?”

“I-I was shot again.” She replied as her smile faded a little.

Harry softly sighed and hugged her.

“I-I’ll, uh….go get you guys some breakfast.” Helena finally broke the silence. Once Harry heard another voice in the room, he deeply inhaled and turned over on his back again to see Helena standing on his side of the bed. “Be back in a bit.” She smiled at the both of them and left the room.

Once she was gone, Harry sighed and covered his face. “Why was she here?”

“She was just checking up on us. Don’t worry. She promised not to say anything.” Cassandra reassured him, taking his hand closest to her and pulling it down from his face before she slowly moved to straddle him. She took his other hand and laced their fingers together, doing a little dance with his hands before poking him on the nose. “You’re very cute from up here.” She giggled.

“Well, guess what.” Harry smiled.

“Hm? What?” She already had a feeling she knew what he’d say, but she wanted to hear it anyway, her smile growing.

“You look really hot from down here.” He squeezed her hands.

She froze a little, never having heard anyone call her that before and she bit her lip before leaning over and kissing him softly. Harry kissed her back, smiling into it with a gentle hum before Cassandra sat up straight again, still looking down at him. “We should do it again.” She smirked.

“Now?” He asked.

The blonde nodded. “One more time before we get up.”

“What if someone walks in on us?” Harry pointed out.

“We could lock the door.” She grinned.

“But then they can see us through the little window on the door.”

She softly sighed. “Fiiiine.”

Harry softly chuckled before sitting up and kissing her again, his hands holding her back. _“Another time, Cassandra….I promise.”_ He whispered against her lips before lifting her up and setting her down beside him so he could stand up and find her undies on the bed under the blanket on his side. He picked them up and handed them to her.

“Thanks.” She said, sliding them back on underneath her dress.

Harry walked around the bed to grab his clothes from the floor, quickly getting dressed again and he ran his hand through his hair, hoping it wasn’t too messy.

Cassandra dangled her feet over the side of the bed as she watched him, her butterflies going insane and she placed a hand on her stomach, unintentionally letting out a breath.

Harry noticed and looked at her. “Is everything okay?”

She was too afraid to tell him how she felt when she looked at him or when he touched her or said her name so she quickly thought of a good reason for her holding her stomach. “Y-Yeah. Just….I’m gonna have more scars now.” She sighed, actually feeling the truth to that.

Harry walked over to stand in front of her, gently taking her chin between his fingers and he made her look at him. “Hey.” Cass looked into his eyes as hers began to fill with tears that threatened to fall. “They’re battle scars, Cassandra. They show how strong you are and what you’ve survived. You can get through anything and these will prove it.” He sweetly smiled and kissed her. “Should I go get something to help the pain? I can go to the pharmacy to find some painkill-”

“No!” She grabbed an arm before he could step away. “I don’t feel safe without you.”

“Okay...Okay. I won’t go.” He said to reassure her. “But you will need something eventually.”

“Just wait until Helena is back at least.”

He nodded. “Okay.” He kissed her cheek and then went to sit down in the chair by the wall so he could put his shoes back on.

Cassandra watched his every move as she spoke. “You looked really nice at prom by the way.”

“Thanks. So did you.” He said calmly as he put on his other shoe, though on the inside he wanted to gush about how stunning she always was, but he decided to keep it cool, leaning back in the chair before fiddling with his thumbs in his lap.

“Is everything okay?” Cassandra wondered, confused at his change in attitude.

“Yeah….Yeah.” He said.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

“Please just tell me if I did something wrong last night.” She started to panic, wondering if she did something in bed that he didn’t like.

“No.” He shook his head and looked at her. “You really didn’t, Cassandra. I promise.”

She nodded, a little hesitant to believe him at first, but she trusted him.

She hummed and looked around the room before she suddenly gasped. “Oh my god!”

“What?” Harry asked, a bit more alarmed.

“I haven’t taken my medicine! It’s been two days!” She panicked.

“Oh, shit. Let me go to the-”

“No, no. You don’t have to. It’s right in my little purse from prom by my dress.” She pointed to her cut up dress on the floor in a corner of the room.

Harry rushed to it, lifting up the fabric of her dress on the floor to see her hand purse underneath it and he quickly brought it over to her before rushing over to the sink and getting a little paper cup, filling it with water for her and he ran back to her. Cassandra graciously took the cup from him, taking her medicine immediately and setting the purse and cup on the nightstand by the bed before making a curious face.

“What? What is it?” Harry asked as if he were still panicked.

“Nothing, I just….I haven’t had it in two days and I didn’t feel like I was missing it.”

“What do you think that means?”

She hummed, thinking about an explanation. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’ve been hooked up to an I.V. for a couple days.”

“Oh….Maybe.” Harry nodded.

Just before they could think of any other reason, there was a knock on the door and Helena walked in with a bag of food in one hand as the other hand covered her eyes.

Cassandra giggled. “You can open your eyes, Hel.”

Helena opened her eyes. “Just making sure.” She laughed. “I brought you guys some leftovers from my house.”

“Oooo, thank you.” Cass said with a grateful smile.

“Of course.” Helena smiled back and she went to put the food on the bed.

Harry stood up. “I’m gonna go get you those painkillers now.”

“Are you sure you wanna walk all that way?” Cassandra asked him.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Plus, I could use the fresh air.”

Cass nodded. “Okay. Thank you, Harry.”

He sent her a small smile before he left, trying to clear his head.

* * *

**A/N: Hey, guys. So sorry you were left on another hiatus. My depression keeps coming back and so does Writer’s Block and all of my motivation, plus I’m still struggling to find a job and pay bills, so life is not too easy right now. But we’re getting closer and closer to my favorite parts of this story, so bear with me please.**

**Also, don’t forget that most of Harry’s actions in this are all credited to my girlfriend from our RP! It’s not all me, it’s her talent too.**

**Love you guys! MWAH!**


	18. Missing

Harry froze the moment he stepped back into Cassandra’s hospital room with her painkillers. He was surprised to see that Helena had left and now Gordie was there and he internally sighed when they both turned their heads to look at him in the doorway. 

“Goodbye, Cassandra.” Gordie said quietly and he left, walking quickly by Harry and out the door.

Once he was gone, Harry spoke. “What was he doing here?” The blonde girl looked down at the floor, biting her lip as she shrugged. “Cassandra.” Harry said, stepping over to her, setting the painkillers down on the nightstand.

“He-....He saw us.” Cassandra said, her face red.

“What?”

“He saw us….” She looked up into Harry’s eyes. “Together...Last night.”

“What? How?”

“The window on the door.” She bit her lip harder. 

“I-” Harry turned his head to look at the window and then he sighed.

“I’m sorry, Harry. He-He said he wouldn’t tell anyone.” 

He interrupted her. “Oh, no. Don’t be sorry. I knew we shouldn’t have done it in the first place. It just made things more complicated. This was a stupid idea.” 

“No. Harry, please don’t.” Cass already began to beg. 

“Don’t what, Cass? You know I’m right.” His original persona seemed to return as he internally began to close himself off again.

“Harry, I don’t want to do this.” She sighed.

“Don’t want to do what?”

“Go back to the way things were.” She replied.

“Well….not everything is about what you want, Cassandra.” Harry shook his head and headed for the door.

Just as Harry made it to the door, Cassandra mumbled quietly to herself, hoping he wouldn’t hear. “But….I think I love you.”

Whether he heard it or not, it didn’t matter….he left anyway.

Harry was awakened the next morning by the sun shining brightly through his bedroom window and he groaned, putting an arm over his eyes. He turned over onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow to try and get some more sleep, but failed as Mickey came into his room, searching through all of Harry’s stuff. Harry groaned again at the noise and turned his head to look at him. “Dude….What the fuck...are you doing?” He asked with an annoyed and exhausted tone.

“I’m trying to find a razor. I really need to shave my face, man.” Mickey said, looking through some of Harry’s drawers. 

“Do I look like I care?” Harry asked him, turning onto his side again to look at him better.

“Would you both shut up?” Kelly groaned, half asleep, laying next to Harry in the bed.

“I’m sorry, babe.” Harry said before looking back at Mickey. “Get out!!!!”

Mickey sighed, heading for the door. "Alright, alright! Jesus! But first you need to know that there's a meeting at the church in like an hour-"

“Just get the fuck out!” Harry shouted and Mickey ran out, shutting the door.

“Who the hell is that guy? I don’t even remember seeing him at school.” Kelly admitted.

Harry plopped back onto his back. “Neither do I.” 

It was silent for a minute as they both stared at the ceiling thinking about how they couldn’t remember him from school and then they both started to chuckle, soon looking at each other, still softly chuckling. When they stopped, they both hummed a little and looked back up at the ceiling. 

“So, when are you gonna tell me?” Kelly broke the silence.

“Hm?” Harry asked confused.

“About why you need a cover girlfriend.” She pointed out.

“Oh, I just….” He thought for a moment. “...Didn’t wanna share a room with five other people.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “That makes sense actually.” Kelly smiled and looked at him again. “Smart thinking.” Harry chuckled a little at her statement before she sat up and stretched. “I’m gonna shower before the meeting.”

Harry nodded and responded with a half-assed hum before he stood up with her and went downstairs to start making some coffee. Almost everyone living in his house were already awake, making a ruckus and even more of a mess and Harry rolled his eyes at all of them as he headed into the kitchen. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that there was already some coffee made and he got a mug from the counter, going to the sink to wash it a little before pouring half the cup with coffee and then he poured the rest with tequila. 

Gretchen stepped into the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal, watching him do that and she snorted, shaking her head. 

“What? What the fuck did I do to you?” He asked, annoyed that every single thing he did resulted in someone judging him. 

"Nothing." She rolled her eyes with a scoff. "I just thought that being in this new place would rid me of alcoholic men like my father....Guess not." She poured the milk in her cereal and left the kitchen.

Harry rolled his eyes and downed the cup in one gulp before going back upstairs to lazily get dressed into some jeans and the same button down shirt he wore the day before. 

After about an hour or so, everyone headed out to go to the church for another town meeting. Harry didn’t listen to a word Helena said during the announcements as he just bounced his leg in the pew, looking down the entire time. 

When Helena was finished, she moved away from the podium so Allie could approach it. “We have some news about my sister.” The moment she said that, Harry looked up, tuning into the meeting once and for all, straightening his posture. “She um….As of this morning….Cassandra is….” Allie paused to look around the room before she finished. “...missing.” 

The whole church erupted in an uproar of murmurs and whispers. 

Without even a second of hesitation, Harry stood up and left the church. Helena spotted him, quickly following. “Harry! Harry!!!” She shouted, trying to catch up.

“We gotta find her.” He spoke, speeding up.

“We will.” She tried to assure him. “She can’t have gone far.”

“No. We gotta find her NOW!!!” He emphasized. 

“It’s okay, Harry. I’m sure she just went out for a walk or something.”

“What if Campbell took her?!” Harry shouted back to her, going in the direction of the hospital.

“Why would he do that?” She wondered, already out of breath a little.

Harry ignored her question, walking even faster and soon, Helena gave up and stopped walking, watching him leave as she sighed.

Harry went straight to the hospital cafeteria, shouting her name. “Cassandra?!” He yelled out, looking everywhere for her, including inside the walk in freezer in the kitchen. He didn’t find her anywhere, so he went around most of the hospital to try and locate her. Going back to her room, he noticed she had left the painkillers there as well as her heart medicine and he panicked more, knowing she probably wouldn’t leave without them. “God damn it!!!” He shouted, slapping the bed hard before heading out, going to look at her house and then Campbell’s. Both houses were completely empty and while he was in Campbell’s place, he found his gun on the nightstand beside his bed. He thought hard about taking it but then realized...everyone would think he was the one who shot her if he did, so he left it, running back to the center of town, looking around at all the trees and leaves and grass, his eyes falling to the gazebo beam that he and Cassandra held onto the first time he felt her scar and he groaned in frustration before leaning back against the same tree she sat at before he and his friends made her drop her books and he sat down, covering his face with his hands.

Not long after, he felt something brush against his leg and he uncovered his face, looking over to see quite a hairy dog sitting beside him. The boy looked at him with confusion at first before he weakly smiled. “Hey...are you the one she saw that night?” He watched the dog stare straight ahead, panting with his tongue out. Harry sighed and whispered. “What if she’s really dead this time?” He sadly hung his head and placed a hand on the back of the dog’s neck, about to pet him but the stray dog growled, causing Harry to pull his hand away. “No one likes me. Not even you.” 

The dog continued to growl before standing up, still staring straight ahead as if to growl at someone in particular who was not Harry. Harry turned his head to see who the dog was looking at and he glared, seeing that the dog was actually growling at Campbell walking across the courtyard. He stood up, going over to approach him. “Hey!” 

Campbell looked at him and sighed. “I don’t have any drugs for you today, Harry.”

“Where’s Cassandra?” Harry ignored his statement.

“Cassandra? You mean my cousin?” Campbell asked. 

“Yeah. Tell me where the fuck you’re keeping her?” Harry shouted, getting closer to him. 

“Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?” Campbell asked with a creepy half smile.

“I know you took her! Tell me where she is!” He pushed him before grabbing him by the collar.

"Why the hell would I want that know-it-all cunt anywhere around me?"

“Shut up! I know what you did to her. I know everything.” Harry snarled, his face inches from Campbell’s.

“Oh yeah, Harry?” Campbell said. “What did I do?” Harry clenched his jaw before pushing him away again, releasing his shirt. The dog barked at Campbell and he looked down at it. “Shut the fuck up, asshole dog!” He glared at Harry one last time before turning and leaving as the courtyard began to fill up with more kids after the town meeting had ended. 

Harry sighed and looked down at the dog. “Come on.” He said and they both headed back to the church.

When they went inside, Helena was the only one there, reading her Bible in one of the pews. 

“Helena.” Harry said, going in with the dog. 

Helena turned to look at them. “Hey.” She smiled. “Who’s that?” She pointed at the dog.

“I don’t know. But I-I gotta tell you something.” Harry approached the bench she sat on.

“What’s going on? Did you find her?” She asked, looking up at him. 

“No...But….I think I know who shot her.” 

“You do? How?” She wondered, moving over so he could sit too.

As he sat down, he replied. “She told me.” He half-lied.

“Who was it?” 

“Campbell.” 

“You’re positive that’s what she said?” Helena asked.

He thought back to their conversation about him and sighed. “No.”

“Harry, we can’t just assume it was him because we don’t like him and he’s a bit creepy.” 

“But he really hates her.” 

“So did you...last I recalled. And the rest of this town still thinks you do. But we still made sure no one accused you. I'm sorry, Harry. Until we have proof, or someone confesses, or Cassandra tells us herself....we won't know who it was." 

Harry sighed again and looked down sadly without a word. 

"Can I ask what's going on with you and Cassandra?" Helena said, closing her Bible.

“Nothing.” He said quickly.

"Harry, just remember that she's not like all those cheerleaders you were with in high school. It won't be just sex to her."

“Whatever.” He said before slouching more in his seat. 

“No. Not whatever. She’s like you since were probably ten.” 

“What?” He looked at her. 

“I can’t believe you never realized it. Everyone else did. She had the biggest crush on you.” She looked at him, seeing the confusion in his eyes. “You didn't notice that you were the only one she never tagged at recess? And when you and the guys were doing something you weren't supposed to...she always left your name out of it when she told a teacher?"

“Really? She did?” Harry asked, feeling a lump in his throat.

“Yeah. That's why every time you were awful to her, everyone was so uncomfortable. We all knew." Helena admitted.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” He said.

“Okay...We don’t have to.” She looked down at her Bible again, opening it up to begin reading to herself once more as Harry mumbled something and she looked at him. “What?” He mumbled again, but she still couldn’t hear. “Hm?” 

He looked around the church to make sure they were really the only ones there before he finally said it out loud. “I’m in love with her.” 

Helena lost her breath, completely taken aback by his words. “R-Really?” She asked, surprised, her eyes widening. 

“Yeah.” He said, trying to play it off as if it were not big deal. 

“F-For how long?” She wondered.

“Guess.” 

“I-I don’t know.” She thought. “N-Not since we were ten.” Harry shrugged, looking down at his hands and the girl gasped. “Harry.” He pinched the bridge of his nose at her reaction. “Y-You...You need to tell her.” 

“She told me she loved me yesterday, but I didn’t say anything back because I thought she only said it so I would stay with her at the hospital. I didn’t think she really meant it.” 

“Cassandra never says something she doesn’t mean, Harry.” 

He sighed. “Well...it’s too late now. And I might never get to tell her.” He groaned, putting his face in his hands.

Helena placed a hand on his back. “We’re gonna find her.” 

“Not just by sitting here, we won’t.” He uncovered his face and leaned back again with another sigh.

“Where do you think she might be?” 

“I don’t know. I looked everywhere I could think of.” He shook his head, staring forward at the bench in front of them. “I said some things I shouldn’t have before I left her yesterday. All alone. It’s my fault she’s gone. I should’ve stayed.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m so stupid.” He fiddled with his thumbs in his lap as Helena sighed. “Can we just…..pray….again?” He asked, regretting it almost immediately as it came out of his mouth. 

Helena smiled. “Of course.” She closed her Bible again, setting it down beside her on the pew before folding her hands together. “Whenever you’re ready.” 

Harry folded his hands too and then closed his eyes before silently praying to himself and Helena smiled, soon doing the same.


End file.
